MIFF 2022: Aliona van der Horst’s Turn Your Body To The Sun wins top prize

The 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival, where 400 films from across the world were showcased, came to an end on 4 June at the Nehru Centre in the presence of Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, minister of state for information & broadcasting L Murugan and other dignitaries.

Dutch filmmaker Aliona van der Horst’s Turn Your Body To The Sun, which retraces a Russian soldier’s past as a Nazi prisoner and later as an inmate at the former Soviet Union’s notorious gulags, won the prestigious Golden Conch award for Best Documentary Film in the International Section. 

Ojaswwee Sharma's Admitted bagged the Silver Conch award for Best Documentary Film (above 60 minutes) in the National Competition section while Aimee Barua's Simmering Butterflies Barua won the Silver Conch award for the Best Documentary Film (Below 60 Minutes) award in the National Competition.

Shristipal Singh’s Geru Patra won the Best Short Fiction Film (Up to 45 minutes) in the National Competition section. The director, who was quite ecstatic, told Cinestaan.com, "This is a very prestigious film festival, not just in India but around the world. So winning the award for Best Film at such a prestigious award is something else. I can't express my happiness in words. This is a result of my team's pure hard work. We had a very tough competition. There were some genuinely unique and mind-blowing films. So I had kept my expectations low, but we still ended up winning even after such tough competition. It is a really big confidence booster for me."

The award for Best Animation Film in International Competition went to Katarzyna Agopsowicz’s Prince in a Pastry Shop (Poland). Adithi Krishnadas’s Kandittund! won Best Animation Film in the National Competition section. 

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The award for Best Short Film in International Competition was shared by Danish director Gudmund Helmsdal's Faroese-language movie Brother Troll and Malayalam filmmaker Sudesh Balan’s Saakshatkaaram.

The award for Best Debut Director went to Bimal Poddar for Radha whereas Italian director Nicola Piovesan’s Closed To The Light won the award of Most Innovative/Experimental Film. Rishi Bhaumik’s Megha bagged the IDPA award for Best Student Film.

In the technical award categories, the Best Sound Design award was shared by Jose Rommer (Panama) for Your Peace of Mind, Make Your Own Museum and Pritam Das for Kicking Balls. The Best Editing award was also shared by S Shanmuganathan for Dhobi Ghat and Sajed PC for Bamboo Ballads.

The Best Cinematography award was shared by Rafeeq Ellias for If Memory Serves Me Right, and Bernarda Cornejo Pinto for the German documentary Among Us Women.

French documentary maker Mina Rad — who headed the International jury along with Israeli filmmaker Dan Wolman, French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Saire, National Film Award-winning journalist Anant Vijay and cinematographer Subbiah Nallamuthu — said that MIFF should be held annually instead of biennially, as is the case. She also requested MIFF organizers to introduce a few more award categories such as Best script. 

The National Competition jury was chaired by Sanjit Narwekar. The other members were theatre artiste Jayasree Bhattacharya, Bangladeshi filmmaker Tareq Ahmed and Sri Lankan film critic Ashley Ratnavibhushana.

Veteran artistes Sunny Deol and Hema Malini were to attend the event but did not come.