Bhubaneswar: Short movie A Daughter’s Letter by Abhishek Swain won the best film award at Ignite Film Festival, organised by Sparsh at a hotel here Tuesday. The film narrates the story of a girl who writes a letter to her mother who had picked her from a roadside garbage bin and gave her a good life which many girls aspire to live. Films screened at the festival were based on the theme of “Save the girl child, educate a girl child.” Of the six movies which were finalised for the competition, three were given away awards at the event. The movie which was chosen for the first runners up is She is my daughter directed by Kaushik Nath and the second runners up is Be the change by Santosh Panda. The winners received a cash prize of Rs 50,000 while the first and second runners up got Rs 10, 000 each. The jury members said they did not get adequate number of nominations as per expec
tations. The quality of the movies received for the competition was not of great significance. They suggested that the organisers should have increased the choice of themes to attract more participants. Cinema like literature needs
constant encouragement and more film festivals can provide a scope to create quality films, the jury said. Odia movie Hello Arsi won three awards at the national level, they said and the recognition will surely boost the industry. Filmmaker Amartya Bhattacharya said independent filmmaking culture has not entered Odisha so far. Making movies is not an arduous task in the digital era as young filmmakers have scope to narrate their stories. Nowadays, a film can be made with the help of a phone camera, he added. The film A daughter’s letter dominated the evening which won the maximum number of awards – under best film, best script and best cinematography category. Winner of the best film Abhishek Swain said appreciation for the “thought behind the movie” is his biggest achievement. Swain had produced six movies which were screened at several film festivals.
A Daughter’s Letter wins best film award
