Rima Das does it again, bags Golden Gateway award for Bulbul Can Sing

The names of the winners of the Mumbai Film Festival awards are out. And Assam filmmaker Rima Das has achieved glory for the second successive year by winning the Golden Gateway award for Best Film in the India Gold competition for her second feature, Bulbul Can Sing.

Das had won the same award last year for her second film Village Rockstars, which had a theatrical release this year and is India's official entry to the Oscars early next year.

The Golden Gateway awards in the India Gold and International Competition categories include a trophy and a cash prize of Rs25 lakh.

The Silver Gateway award in the India Gold competition was shared by Ridham Janwe’s The Gold-Laden Sheep And The Sacred Mountain and Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Jonaki.

The Silver Gateway awards in the India Gold and International Competition categories include a trophy and a cash prize of Rs15 lakh.

The Special Jury award in this category was bagged by Kabir Chowdhry’s Mehsampur. The award, in both the categories mentioned, includes a certificate and a cash prize of Rs5 lakh.

The evening saw Ivan Ayr's Soni being chosen for the Oxfam Best Film on Gender Equality award. The award, instituted by Oxfam India, includes a certificate and a cash prize of Rs10 lakh.

Soni is the story of two female police officers who, though both upright and sincere, are like chalk and cheese in their approach to the job. 

Special mention was made of Jonaki as well as Vasanth S Sai’s Sivaranjani And Two Other Women while announcing the winner of the Oxfam Best Film on Gender Equality award.

In the International Competition at the festival, director Phittiphong Aroonpheng’s Manta Ray walked away with the Golden Gateway award while the Silver Gateway award went to Marcelo Martinessi’s The Heiresses. Gabrielle Brady’s The Island Of Hungry Ghosts was chosen for the Special Jury award in this competition.

Hollywood filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was honoured with the Excellence in Cinema award.

The winners of the Dimensions Mumbai short film awards were also announced. As many as 16 short films based on and in Mumbai were screened as part of the category. Karan Asnani’s Sheher Ya Tum won the Golden Gateway award. The film, which was screened last, had received a lot of applause. The award includes a trophy and a cash prize of Rs1 lakh.

The Silver Gateway award and the Special Jury award in the short films category went to Yadavji and Metaphor, respectively. The Silver Gateway in this category includes a trophy and a cash prize of Rs50,000.

Pranav Bhasin’s New Year’s Eve was declared the Best Film in the large short films category. 

Aadish Keluskar’s Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil was chosen for the Young Critics award in the India Gold competition. The award is given by the Young Critics Lab.

Filmmaker Gauri Shinde paid tribute to the late actress Sridevi at the event. Sridevi had played the protagonist in Shinde's debut feature English Vinglish (2012), which was also the penultimate film the popular actress of the 1980s featured in.