‘Rhythm of a Flower’ Takes Top Prize at Mumbai Film Festival, Sundance Winner ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ Wins Three Honors

Amit Dutta’s hand-drawn animation “Rhythm of a Flower” (Phool Ka Chand) has won the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival‘s Golden Gateway Award, the event’s top accolade.

The film is a biopic chronicling the twilight years of Indian classical singer Kumar Gandharva. Dutta is an auteur whose works have been frequently shown at the Venice, Rotterdam, Berlin and Jeonju film festivals.

Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta’s documentary on Himalayan moths, “Nocturnes,” won the festival’s Silver Gateway Award. The film previously won awards at Sundance and Thessaloniki.

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Raam Reddy’s “The Fable,” starring Manoj Bajpayee, which chronicles the unravelling of a family after a series of mysterious fires, won the festival’s Special Jury Prize. The film debuted at the Berlinale and is on a global festival run that also includes Valladolid’s SEMINCI.

Another Sundance winner, Shuchi Talati’s coming-of-age drama “Girls Will Be Girls,” headlined by Kani Kusruti, won the Netpac Award, the Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award, the Young Critics Choice Award and also scored a special mention.

A special mention was given by the Netpac jury to Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbós for “Agent of Happiness” and Min Bahadur Bham for “Shambhala” for their outstanding contribution to Asian cinema. “Agent of Happiness” is a Sundance nominee and “Shambhala” debuted at the Berlinale.

In the Dimensions Mumbai strand, which features short films by emerging filmmakers presenting creative responses to the city, Shreela Agarwal won the Gold Award for “BMCLD.” The Silver Awards were won by Sameeha Sabnis for “A Tale of Two Cities” and Bhagyesh Rajeshirke for “I Was Painted Red.”

The festival’s Best Book On Cinema Award went to Mukesh Manjunath for “The Age of Heroes: The Incredible World of Telugu Cinema.”

Sarth Patel won the Rashid Irani Best Young Critic Award, while Saanvi Tara Dwivedi and Rushnan Jaleel were the runners up.

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” opened the festival, while Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or recipient “Anora” closed it.