Bengali Film wins International critic Award
Friday,
August
04,
2006
New
Delhi
(UNI):
An
Indian
film
that
deals
in
"a
poetic
and
deeply
moving
way" with
relations
between
the
rich
and
the
poor
has
bagged
the
critics
award
at
a
recent
film
festival
in
Tanzania.
"Talnabami",
a
Bengali
film
dealing
with
relations
between
rich
and
poor;
between
those
who
belong
and
those
being
excluded-the
tragedy
of
exclusion,
and
the
natural
emotions
characterising
their
existence
in
the
natural
ambience
of
a
village
has
been
awarded
the
'FIPRESCI'
prize
(International
critic
Award)
at
the
9th
Zanzibar
International
film
festival
in
Tanzania,
held
from
July
14
to
22.
Scripted
and
directed
by
Dhananjoy
Mandal,
who
has
won
three
International
awards
for
his
documentary
A
Silent
Killer,
'Talnabami'
was
awarded
the
prize
at
the
festival
on
July
22
by
a
jury
composed
of
renowned
critics
from
France,
Egypt,
Turkey,
Russia
and
Burkina
Faso.
Of the several films before it, the jury singled out 'Talnabami' for the award because of the film being an example of ''high cinematographic quality achieved with extremely low budget''. In praise of the film, the critics said that even though it was set in the specific cultural context of a Dhow country, ''it delivers a universal message''. ''The poetic treatment of the Bengali film will not only touch film critics but also a larger audience,''the jury members said in their citation.
Based on a story by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay, 'Talnabami' delves deep into the basic human emotions in the natural ambience of the Bengal village. The story revolves around two village youngsters from a poor family, Gopal and Nepal, who encounter an egoistic world at a very tender age. The kids learn about the festival of Talnabami at their Aunt Joti's house and the fact that everybody in the village would be invited to the grand feast. Both the boys dream to feast at their Pishi's house. Optimistic Gopal waits for the invitation and tries to attract Joti Pishi's attention. On the day of Talnabami he is ready to go to Jyoti Pishi's house, still expecting an invitation and waits outside the hut. With a broken heart he watches the entire village proceeding towards Joti Pishi's house.
'Talnabami' has already participated in International Film Festivals at Iran, the Netherlands and Greece and five other festivals in India. Now, it has been invited for screening at the Alexandria International film festival in Cairo, Egypt, scheduled to be held from September 5-10. The film's cast includes actors Sourav Das, Suparna Bhattyacharya, Sreela Majumder, Sunil Mukherjee, Jharna Sengupta, and Piyali Baag.