Ash Mayfair’s Vietnamese transgender drama Skin Of Youth has won the Golden Peacock for best film at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI, November 20-28).
At the closing ceremony of the festival in Goa, the director was joined on stage by lead actress Tran Quan to accept the award. The prize includes a cash award of $45,000 (INR40m). It marks the first Vietnamese fiction feature to cast a transperson in the leading role.
Mayfair’s second feature focuses on the turbulent romance between a transgender sex worker seeking to realise her dream of living in a woman’s body and an underground cage fighter in 1990s Saigon. The film received a theatrical release in Japan earlier this year and played in competition at New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which it won the special jury award.
The best director award went to Indian filmmaker Santosh Davajhar for Ghondal. The story of a wedding party that takes a turn for the sinister marks the feature directorial debut of Davajhar, which Screen described as a “sophisticated new voice in India cinema” in its review.
The Best Debut for Feature Film Director award was shared between Estonia’s Tonis Pill for Frank and Iran’s Hesam Farahmand for My Daughter’s Hair.
Slovenian newcomer Jara Sofija Ostan won best actress for her performance in Urska Djukic’s Little Trouble Girls, which won the Fipresci prize when it premiered in Perspectives at the Berlinale earlier this year.
Best actor went to Colombia’s Ubeimar Rios for his role in Simon Mesa Soto’s A Poet, which won a jury prize when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and is Colombia’s entry to the Oscars.
The Special Jury Award went to My Father’s Shadow, the feature debut of Akinola Davies Jr. The British-Nigerian filmmaker took to the stage in Goa to accept the prize. The film premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and is the UK’s selection for the Oscars.
The jury was led by Indian director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and comprised Graeme Clifford, Remi Adefarasin, Kathatina Schuttler and Chandran Rutnam.
The ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal, awarded to a film that embody the ideals of tolerance, intercultural dialogue, and peace, went to Norway’s Safe House by Eirik Svensson. The civil war drama opened Goteborg Film Festival earlier this year, where it won best Nordic film.
IFFI closed on Friday night with the screening of Thai film A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke. The ceremony, held at the at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, also honoured actor Rajinikanth, celebrating 50 years of his cinematic journey.
The festival, organised by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the National Film Development Corporation of India, screened more than 240 films from 81 countries and also hosted masterclasses and industry platform Waves Film Bazaar.
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