Dhaka, Jan 24: S Vinothraj directed Tamil film “Koozhangal” (Pebbles) won the Best Film Award in the Asian Film Competition section at the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival.
“Koozhangal” translated under the title “Pebbles” was released in 2021 and narrates the story of a young boy, who follows his violent and alcoholic father on a quest to fetch his wife. The boy’s mother ran away from his abuse.
In the festival that concluded on Sunday in the Bangladesh capital, there were four more Indian entries. The best actor award went to Jayasurya for Ranjith Sankar-directed “Sunny”.
The Best Scriptwriter Award went to Indranil Roychowdhury and Sugata Sinha for Roychowdhury-directed India-Bangladesh film “Mayar Jonjal”. The special audience award was given to Aimee Baruah directed “Semkhor”.
Sujit Bidari directed “Aina Jhyal Ko Putali from Nepal bagged the best director award. In the Women film maker’s section, the best feature film award was given to Maryam Bahrololumi-directed film Shahrbanoo (Lady from the City) from Iran.
Two Bangladeshi films, Nurul Alam Atique-directed “Lal Moroger Jhuti” and N Rashed Chowdhury-directed “Chandrabati Kotha” got the Audience Award. Information and Broadcasting Minister of Bangladesh Hasan Mahmud gave away the awards during the concluding session organised at the National Museum auditorium. The nine-day long festival featured 225 films from 70 countries.
