'Ontorjatra' gets a nod at 8th Asian Cinefan Film Festival
The jury's mention came for the film's "humane theme expressed with honesty and simplicity".
Starring seasoned actress Sarah Zaker, Ontorjatra was screened at the festival last week and earned acclaim from a cross section of the audience.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Tareque and Catherine are already known in Indian festival circuit and their previous feature film Matir Moina had been screened here and was received well.
Ontorjatra was among the films in the Asian competition section of the ten-day festival which saw the Bet Collector from Philippines directed by Jeffrey Jeturian, walking away with the top award for its sensitive portrayal of the common man's fight to eke out a living and his fear of the police.
The Filipino film also received the best actress award for Gina Paremo for her role of a woman running an illegal betting game who battles all odds to be able to visit her son's grave in her spare time.
In the Indian competitive section of the festival, PN Ramachandra's Suddha -- the cleansing rites won the best film award while Subrata Sen's Bengali film Bibar, a film about the search of an Indian dream -- a ticket to the US for a better life and the battle to strike a balance with traditional values-- took the awards for best actor and actress for Subrata Dutta and Tannishta Chatterjee.
About 120 films from 34 countries were screened at the festival, which also featured a retrospective of Ritwik Ghatak's eight films including Subarnarekha, Meghe Dhaka Tara and Titas Ekti Nadir Naam.
The festival opened with Pan Nalin-directed Valley of Flowers, starring among others Naseeruddin Shah and model-turned actor Milind Soman. The film is a love story in which a mystic beauty claims to have seen a bandit in her dream and decides to stay back with him after a raid on the caravan along the ancient Silk Route.
The festival closed with Iranian movie Offside, a story about Iranian women's love for football but their banishment from the stadium in their country.
In all, eight films had their world premier in the festival including Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut Yun Hota To Kya Hota.