Two awards for 'Miss Lovely' at Mumbai film fest

Mumbai, Oct 25 (IANS) Director Ashim Ahluwalia's "Miss Lovely" was named the best film in the 'India Gold' category of the 14th Mumbai Film Festival. It also won 'Reliance Media Works CreaTech (Creativity & Technology) Award' as the eight-day cine extragvanza concluded Thursday here.

While Hansal Mehta's "Shahid" was the runner-up in the same category, the special jury award was given to Manjeet Singh for "Mumbai Cha Raja".

"Here And There" was being recognised as the best film in the 'International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors' category. Dwight Henry was given the best actor award for "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and best actress in the same category was given to Julia Garner for "Electrick Children".

The jury award of technical excellence was awarded to Pankaj Kumar for "Ship Of Theseus" while Musa Sayeed was given the special jury award for the film "Valley Of Saints".

The grand award giving ceremony of the MFF organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) also saw veteran Bollywood actress Waheeda Rehman being honoured with the lifetime achievement award.

"I am thrilled to receive this award from MAMI, a body of the industry at an international film hosted in my city Mumbai and that too during the course of the centenary year of Indian cinema," she said.

"I dedicate this award to the directors, producers, co-actors, technicians who have been a part of this journey with me," said the 76-year-old, who was given the award by veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, chairman of MAMI.

A minute's silence was observed in memory of veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra, who passed away Sunday. He was a trustee of MAMI.

In the 'Celebrate Age' category, "Night Boats" was adjudged the best film while "The Delay" was the runner-up and "Ping Pong" received special mention by jury.

"Local" was given the best film award in 'Dimensions Mumbai' category, a short film competition segment that featured works by young Mumbaikars below the age of 25 years depicting aspects of life in Mumbai.

While "Aakhon Dekha Haal" was the runner's up, "Bombay Kulfi" and "Karwaa" received the special mention by the jury in the same category.

"The Hunt" was selected as the winner of the 'Audience Choice Award'.

Opening Oct 18 with critically-acclaimed Hollywood comedy-drama "Silver Linings Playbook", starring Indian actor Anupam Kher, the festival closed with Spanish black-and-white silent drama "Blancanieves".

The festival saw screening of 230 films from movies from around the world with a mix of classic and contemporary cinema with special event segments dedicated to French, Italian, Afghan and Indian cinema. The cinematic fare also hosted an assortment of workshops, panel discussions and seminars.

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Miss Lovely