'Superboys of Malegaon' gets Young Cineastes special mention at Palm Springs Int Film Festival

New Delhi: Director Reema Kagti's film Superboys of Malegaon received the special mention in the Young Cineastes Award category at the 36th Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The annual film gala took place in the desert resort city of Palm Springs in California, the US, between January 2 and January 13.

According to the official website of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Superboys of Malegaon earned a special mention in the segment.

However, the jury -- composed of high school students with a passion for cinema -- selected Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv's Tatami for the Young Cineastes Award.

The Persian-English film follows Iranian female judoka Leila and her coach Maryam, who travel to the World Judo Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, intent on bringing home Iran's first gold medal.

Kagti's Superboys of Malegaon is based on the life of Nasir Shaikh, an amateur filmmaker from the town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, where the residents look to Bollywood cinema for a much-needed escape from daily drudgery.

Kagti shared a screenshot of the festival's announcement on Instagram.

"Thank you @psfilmfest," she captioned the post.

Zoya Akhtar, who serves as a co-producer on the film, on her Instagram Stories wrote: "Yay. Palm Springs Film Festival." Superboys of Malegaon is a Prime Video original movie and an Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby production. It is written by Varun Grover and features Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, and Shashank Arora.

The film had its world premiere at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), following which it was selected for screening at the 68th BFI London Film Festival and in competition at the fourth Red Sea Film Festival.