Bangladeshi film Jaya and Sharmin has won the Best Feature Film award at the fifth World Film Festival Kolkata. Directed by Piplu R Khan, the film received the Bimal Roy Golden Award.
Another Bangladeshi film, Mamun: In Praise of Shadows, also received recognition at the festival. Directed by Mokbul Chowdhury, the documentary received a Jury Mention in the documentary section.
Organised by the Eastern India chapter of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI), the international film festival was held at Nandan-3 in Kolkata from 8 to 13 September. The winners were announced at the closing ceremony on Sunday evening.
Abu Shahed Emon, producer of Jaya and Sharmin, expressed gratitude in a press release for the recognition and the warm response from film critics, filmmakers and audiences at the festival. He described the award as an encouraging achievement for the film’s artistes and crew, as well as for Bangladeshi cinema on the international stage.
A total of 38 films were screened during the six-day festival, with 19 competing in the feature film section. Films from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela and Uzbekistan took part.
The three-member jury panel comprised Professor Ujjal Chakraborty, Rita Dutta and Pradip Kenchanuru.
India’s Assamese-language film River Tales, directed by Pankaj Bora, won the Bimal Roy Silver Award for the second-best feature film. Sri Lankan film Pantram, directed by Nadie Wasalamudaliarachchi, received a Jury Mention in the same section.
In the documentary category, Ranjit Ray’s Dolls Don’t Die: Putulnama won the Harisadhan Dasgupta Golden Award for Best Film. River Still Flows, directed by Dip Bhuya, received the Harisadhan Dasgupta Silver Award for the second-best documentary.
In the short fiction category, Dr Dhritishree Sarkar’s The Tale of Katha won the Chidananda Dasgupta Golden Award for Best Film. Iranian film Suddenly Rise, directed by Mohammad Sajjad Motaharizadeh, received the Chidananda Dasgupta Silver Award for the second-best film.
Set against the backdrop of the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, Jaya and Sharmin is an 86-minute Bengali-language psychological film. The story focuses on the changing relationship between Jaya, played by Jaya Ahsan, and her domestic worker Sharmin, portrayed by theatre artiste Mohsina Akter.
The film explores the loneliness of two women confined under the same roof, their psychological dependence on each other and the class and power differences within their relationship.
Abu Shahed Emon of Story Raj Films, Jaya Ahsan of C-Te Cinema and Piplu R Khan of Applebox Films jointly produced the film.
