IFFK 2024: Brazilian movie 'Malu' wins best film award, 'Feminichy Fathima' bags top honours

Thiruvananthapuram: While Brazilian film 'Malu' was selected by the international jury as best film in the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala that concluded here on Friday, Malayalam film 'Feminichy Fathima' (Feminist Fathima) won the audience poll.

'Malu', directed by Pedro Freire, tells the story of a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother trying to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter. It won the 'Suvarna Chakoram'  (Golden crow pheasant) that carries a cash prize of Rs. 20 lakh.

'Feminichy Fathima' (Feminist Fathima) that literally stole the show was the directorial debut of Fasil Muhammed. It narrates the struggle of a housewife with her orthodox husband at Ponnani in Malappuram district of Kerala. It was one of the much talked about film in the week long film festival and hence the audience poll award was not a surprise.

Rajata Chakoram (Silver Crow Pheasant) for best director was won by Iranian filmmaker Farshad Hashemi for the film 'Me, Mariam, the children and 26 others'. Cristobal Leon and Joaquín Cocina won the awards for debut director for the Spanish film 'The Hyperboreans'.

The highlight of the 29th edition of IFFK was prominence to women as 52 of the 177 films screened were by female directors. Actor Shabana Azmi was honoured at the inaugural function and Cannes Grand Prix winner Payal Kapadia was honoured with the Spirit of cinema award during the valedictory