India’s Sunflowers wins La Cinef Prize at Cannes for the first times. Indian Filmaker Mansi Mahheshwari’s Bunnyhood won the third prize at Cannes.
Highlighting
- A Student of FTII, Chidananda S Naik’s film Sunflowers were the First Ones to Know won the first prize at 77th Cannes Film Festival.
- Indian filmmaker won the third prize for the “Bunnyhood”.
- There is a reward of 15,000 euros for the first prize winner.
At the 77th Cannes Fil Festival, Chidananda S Naik’s Sunflower were the first ones to know won the first prize of La Cinef for the best short on Thursday, while Mansi Maheshwari’s ‘Bunnyhood’ won the third prize in the same category at Cannes 2024.
The first prize win by Chidananda is India’s second in five years. While ‘Bunnyhood’ is a UK film, it is made by an Indian from Meerut. The La Cinef awards were announced on May 23.
Chidananda S Naik’s ‘Sunflowers were the First Ones to know’ won the first prize amongst 17 other films. The selection consisted of 18 films by students from 2,263 applicants from 555 film schools across the globe.
This film is 16 minute short story about village, thrown into chaos by an elderly woman who stelas a rooster. A Prophecy is invoked for the bring back rooster and sending the old lady’s family into exile. The Cannes Film Festival awards an 15,000 euro grant to first winner.
The second prize wins ‘Our The Window Through The Wall’ by Asya Segalovich and Aristole University of Thessaloniki’s ‘The Chaos She Left Behind’ by Nikos Kolioukos. The Cannes Film Festival awards an 11,250 euro grant to the second prize winner.
The short films chaired by Lubna Azabal and featured Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret and Vladimir Perisic. The award ceremony had took place at the Bunuel Theature on Mat 23, Thursday, which was followed by the screening of the films at Cannes.
The awards films which is set to be screened at the Cinema du Pantheon on June 3 and the Mk2 Quai de Seine on June 4.