Above: Dharminder Kaur, as the mother.
Film/Stage
Punjabi Film, Filmmakers Garner Top Awards at Intrernational Film Fest
NEWS REPORTS
The Punjabi film Anhey Ghorrey da Daan ('Alms for a Blind Horse'), directed by Gurvinder Singh has won the Special Jury Prize in the New Horizons Competition and a purse of US $ 50,000 at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival this week.
The Jury for the competition was headed by Iranian-Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Gobadi.
The award citation praised the film based on a novel by Gurdial Singh for having “its visual style and a poetic journey indicating a new and intriguing voice to emerge from the cinematic landscape of India.” The film presents a disturbing look at the lot of the Dalits in India.
Anhey Ghorrey da Daan produced by NFDC is the first ever Punjabi film which is going around the world in various international festivals. Apart from Abu Dhabi, it has been shown in Venice and in the coming weeks will be at Hong Kong, Seoul and New York festivals.
Gurvinder Singh plans to make his second full-length feature film on the tragedy of 1984, based on two stories by the distinguished Punjabi writer, Waryam Singh Sandhu.
At the same festival, another UK-based Punjabi film maker and director, Gemma Atwal’s documentary on the wonder kid of Orissa - Marathon Boy - bagged her an award for Best New Director, also with a cash prize of US $ 50,000.
October 22, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), October 22, 2011, 5:03 PM.
I have not seen this film, and also wonder how would I? Here is a film maker to be watched. Looks like a rebirth of Satyajit Ray. Judging from its success, it seems to show deep observation, understanding and love of the human race without using melodrama or the dramatic excesses of Bollywood. Here is another short film - without a single spoken or distracting music. It lasts only 12 minutes. This film, "Meals Ready", is bound to touch you and wet your eyes: The site is - http://www.vidsage.com/documentaries/52-documentaries/1449-meals-ready-an-excellent-short-film.html
2: Usman Malik (Glasgow, Scotland), December 10, 2011, 3:12 PM.
Just saw it tonight at it's screening at Lahore. It was just a very delightful experience. Perhaps the best part was that I actually found a film which was wonderful to listen to!