The movie Frozen starring Danny Denzongpa bagged award at the 9th OSIAN’s-CINEFAN Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema which concluded in the capital last night.More than 140 films from around 35 countries were screened at the Festival, which commenced in the capital on 20 July. Screenings were held in the auditoriums of the Sirifort complex, the Alliance Francaise, PVR Plaza and PVR Rivoli. The annual Festival which had commenced as an Asian film festival in 1999 was amplified from this year to become a Festival of Asian and Arab cinema.
The first feature-length film to be shot in the icy and hostile regions of Ladakh, ‘Frozen’ by Shivajee Chandrabhushan made in Hindi and Ladakhi and starring the well-known Danny Denzongpa received a Special Jury Award.
The members of the Asian and Arab Competition jury were Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Francois da Silva (France), Hala Khalil (Egypt), Saeed Mirza (India), and Wu Tianming (China). The First Features Jury had Amir Muhammad (Malaysia), Anurag Kashyap (India), and Min Byung-lock (Korea). The Indian Features jury had Bianca Taal (The Netherlands), Dorothee Wenner (Germany), Nick Deocampo (Philippines), Peggy Chiao Hsiung-Ping (Taiwan), and Rupa Ganguly (India). The FIPRESCI Jury had Chris Fujiwara (USA), Klaus Eder (Germany), and H N Narahari Rao (India), while the NETPAC Jury had Asoka Handagama (Sri Lanka), Kenji Ishizaka, and Tiina Lokk (Estonia).
Renowned artiste Usha Uthup also performed before the presentation of awards. Apart from jury members, those who gave away the awards at the event compered by star Rajit Kapoor included Kirron Kher, Sarika, Gautam Ghose, Nandita Das, and Seema Biswas.
