FTII students’ film wins prestigious Cannes La Cinef award

“Sunflowers were the first ones to know”, the film made by the students of FTII, wins the La Cinef Award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday

Pune: “Sunflowers were the first ones to know”, the film made by the students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) won the La Cinef Award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.

“Sunflowers were the first ones to know”, the film made by the students of FTII, including Chidananda S Naik (in pic), wins the La Cinef Award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. (HT)

FTII announced in its official microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) page, “FTII brings big honour to India, our student film ‘Sunflowers were the first ones to know’ is the winner of La Cinef Award at 77th Cannes Film Festival.”

Student director Chidananda S Naik received the award at Cannes. The Mysuru doctor-turned filmmaker made the film at the end of his one-year course in the television wing of FTII.

The film is based on Kannada folk tale about an old woman who steals a rooster. As a result of her action, the son stops to progress in the village.

Congratulating the student team of Naik (direction), Suraj Thakur (camera), Manoj V (editing) and Abhishek Kadam (sound), the institute stated, “The reception of the prestigious award is a historical achievement for Indian Cinema. FTII stands tall among the best film schools in the world and made India proud today.”

The first prize for Naik is India’s second in five years. In 2020, Ashmita Guha Neogi, also from FTII, won the award for her film “CatDog”.

The Cannes Film Festival awards a 15,000 euro ( ₹13 lakh) grant for the first prize winner, 11,250 ( ₹10 lakh) euros for the second prize and 7,500 ( ₹6,5 lakh) euros for the third prize.

(With agency inputs)