Arati Kadav wins Best Director award at Fantasia Festival

Arati Kadav’s sci-fi short film The Astronaut And His Parrot has bagged the Best Director Award at the Fantasia Festival, which is being held till 3 August. Starring Ali Fazal, the film was screened in the competition section of the festival.

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The festival sent out a tweet about the award, mentioning the citation that read, "The director managed to create compelling characters that allowed us to develop a deep connection to a very human moment."

The short, which has been screened at the Sci-Fi London 2022 and London Indian Film Festival 2022, had its North America premiere at Fantasia.

Reacting to the news, the elated filmmaker tweeted, "Yaaaaay thank you Fantasia Festival and Ali Fazal and the star team of Astronaut And Parrot (sic)."

Yaaaaay thank you @FantasiaFest @alifazal9 and the star team of Astronaut and Parrot https://t.co/PDRfYsQE9m

— Arati Kadav (@AratiKadav) July 25, 2022

In a statement, the filmmaker also shared, "It feels so amazing to win this award and it is quite significant for an Indian sci-fi movie. I am really grateful to my wonderful team, friends and everyone who made this film with me. I am thankful to the amazing Ali Fazal, who agreed to hang in there with me in space. Our goal has always been to make a film in the depths of space and the whole team’s passion can be seen in the movie.”