Indian director Shonali Bose wins Sundance Institute–Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award

Indian director Shonali Bose (Amu, 2005) is one of the four filmmakers who won the Sundance Institute– Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award 2012 announced at the Sundance Film Festival today.

The winning directors and projects are: Shonali Bose, Margarita. With A Straw from India; Ariel Kleiman, Partisan from Australia; Etienne Kallos, Vrystaat (Free State) from South Africa; and Dominga Sotomayor, Late To Die Young from Chile.

The awards had been instituted in 2011 in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. Each of the four winning filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival for targeted industry and creative meetings, year-round mentoring from Institute staff and creative advisors, participation in a Feature Film Program Lab, and ongoing creative and strategic support.

“We are grateful to the Mahindra Group for building with us, this multifaceted program, which embraces our joint global commitment to nurturing new storytellers and getting their voices out to the widest possible audiences,” said Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford.

‘She falls repeatedly in love, yearns to have sex and wants to be a Bollywood songwriter. Laila. A brilliant mind trapped in a disobedient body,’ goes the synopsis of Margarita. With A Straw by Shonali Bose.

Bose’s first feature, Amu, based on the 1984 genocide against Sikhs, won two National Awards (Best Film, Best Director), the FIPRESCI Critics Award amongst ten international awards. The film was an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival, followed by Toronto. She co-wrote and co-produced the feature film Chittagong, directed by her husband Bedabrato Pain. The film is slated to release in 2012.

The Global Filmmaking Award Nomination Committee in India included: Shabana Azmi (Actor, Activist), Shyam Benegal (Filmmaker), Ira Bhaskar (Film Professor), Anupama Chopra (Film Critic), Gautam Ghose (Filmmaker), K. Hariharan (Film Academy Director), Shekhar Kapur(Filmmaker), Anjum Rajabali (Screenwriter, Film Professor) and Ramesh Sippy (Filmmaker).

Posted by NewsDesk on Jan 25 2012. Filed under Features & Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry