Diorama: Andhadhun and Brazil’s Blessed Is The Fruit win Golden Sparrow for Best Feature

The first edition of the Diorama International Film Festival & Market (DIFF) had its closing ceremony at the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi on 20 January 2019. A red carpet for the national and international personalities attending the festival was organized prior to the ceremony.

Attended by several eminent members of the Indian and international film fraternity, the ceremony was hosted by upcoming actress, Aarti Khetarpal. Headlining itself as the ‘Largest Entertainment Event in Delhi NCR’, the festival featured a programme of 104 national and international films, film bazaar, workshops and sessions, and a gala fashion show.

According to the festival’s founder and director Manoj Srivastava, Diorama aims to create a film industry within the city of Delhi at par with Mumbai. The socio-cultural and economic milieu of Delhi is expected to be a fruitful nurturing ground for a film industry. "We have begun a movement to kick start a film industry in Delhi. I thank the entire film industry for posing faith in us. Watch us grow our way up now," says Srivastava.

The seven-day festival was attended by several dignitaries including Nik Powell (former chairman, European Film Academy-UK), Spanish producer Beatrix de la, Dar Motion Picture’s CEO Vivek Rangachari, Iranian actress Mozhgan Taraneh, French film critic Barbara Lorey de la Charriere), Philip Cheah, founder, Asia Pacific Film Lab, Singapore, and actors Dipak Tijori, Divya Dutta and Neetu Chandra.  

The Diorama Film Bazaar resulted in the purchase or negotiation of rights with film distributors and sales agents for about 12 international films and 40 short films from the competitive sections of the festival. In a press release, Kunal Srivastav, director, Diorama Film Bazaar said, “With four feature film projects funded, 19 feature and 40 short film rights sold, Diorama Film Bazaar has transacted business worth USD 3 millions. The journey has just begun and we will go a long way."

The film festival presented a series of awards called the Sparrow Awards. The awards were decided by three international juries and one national jury in different competitive categories of world and Indian cinemas.

Diorama presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui and Indian filmmaker Subhash Ghai. While Andhadhun (2018) took the Golden Sparrow Award for Best Feature (Indian), the Brazilian film Blessed Is The Fruit bagged the Golden Sparrow Award for Best Feature (International).

Mehrjui congratulated the festival while talking about his collaborations with Satyajit Ray and the longstanding instances of productive relations he has had with Indian cinema. Ghai expressed his gratitude for the award, and highlighted his origins in Delhi and expressed his belief that Diorama would be a great success for Delhi in the years to come owing to the tenacity and experience of its founder Manoj Srivastava.

The complete list of awards is produced below:

Silver Sparrow for Best Short Film: As The First Time/Director: Emanuela Mascherini

Golden Sparrow for Best Short Film: Storyteller/Director: Anıl Güldoğan

Silver Sparrow for the Best Documentary Film: Marco Vourinen for the film Vianey

Golden Sparrow for the Best Documentary Film: Sudipta Kundu for the film Ladli

Golden Sparrow for Best Cinematography, India: KU Mohanan for the film Andhadhun

Golden Sparrow for Best Sound, India: SIinoy Joseph for the film October

Golden Sparrow for Best Editing, India: Sreejith Karanavar for the film Mehsampur

Golden Sparrow for Best Male Playback, India: Sukhwinder Singh for the song 'Kar Har Maidan Fateh' from the film Sanju

Golden Sparrow for Best Female Playback, India: Sunidhi Chauhan for the song 'Manwa' from the film October

Golden Sparrow for Best Music: Faisal Razi for the film Poomaram (Malayalam)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dariush Mehrjui

Golden Sparrow to Best Actor Male: Mohsen Tanabandeh for the film Mader E Azim

Golden Sparrow to Best Actor Female: Ingrid Triguerio for the film Blessed Is The Fruit

Silver Sparrow for Best International Film: Rona, Mader E Azim/Director: Jamshid Mehmoudi

Silver Sparrow for Best International Film: Red Flower And Green Leaves/Director: Miaomiao Liu

Golden Sparrow for Best International Feature Film: Blessed Is the Fruit/Director: Andre Morais

Special Mention: Bobby Sarma Baruah for the film Mishing

Golden Sparrow to Best Indian Actor Male: Ayushmann Khurrana for the film Andhadhun

Golden Sparrow to Best Indian Actor Female: Taapsee Pannu for the film Mulk

Golden Sparrow for Best Indian Feature Film: Andhadhun/Director: Sriram Raghavan

Silver Sparrow for Best Indian Film: Sudani From Nigeria/Director: Zakaria Mohammed

Best Spiritual Film of the Century: Aushim Khetrapal for the film Sai Baba

Lifetime Achievement Award: Subhash Ghai