IFFK ends - Women share top honours

The 12th edition of the IFFK (International Film Festival of Kerala) has ended, with the closing ceremony being held at the Nishagandhi open-air auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram on 14th evening. Inaugurated by The Chief Minister and attended by prominent personalities from all walks of life and by delegates, the highlight of the closing ceremony was the announcement and giving away of the awards.

Of the 14 films that featured in the competition section, the jury selected the Mania Akbari-directed Iranian film Ten Plus Four(Da be Avaleh Chahar) and the Lucia Puenzo-directed Spanish film XXY (Argentina-Spain-France) to share the Suvarna Chakoram for the best film. The directors of these films, both women, got the Rajata Chakoram awards for the best directors too; while Mania Akbari bagged the Rajata Chakoram award for the Best Director, Lucia Puenzo got the Rajata Chakoram for the best debut director.

The Chinese film Getting Home (Lou Ye Gul Gen) (Hong Kong-China) directed by Yang Zhang, got the Audience Prize Rajata Chakoram. The Prize is decided on the basis of the opinion poll by delegates. The film also bagged the NETPAC award while the FIPRESCI award was given to the Portuguese film Sleep-walking Land (Terra Sonambula) (Mozambique-Portugal), directed by Teresa Prata.

Shyamaprasad's Ore Kadal bagged two awards - the FIPRESCI and the NETPAC award for the best Malayalam film. The international jury also gave the Turkish director Abdullah Oguz a special award for his film Bliss (Mutluluk). After the closing ceremony, the award winning XXY, which had got good response at the festival, was screened.