Chidanand Naik’s short film wins La Cinef award in Cannes’24
Kannada film shines on the international stage
India’s budding youth director Chidanand Naik’s short Kannada film, “SUNFLOWERS WERE THE FIRST ONES TO KNOW”, has bagged the Cannes’ La Cinef Award for Best Short at 77th Cannes Film Festival in France.
The film has been directed by Chidananda S Naik, shot by Suraj Thakur, edited by Manoj V and sound by Abhishek Kadam, all students of the TV wing FTII (Film and Television Institute of India), who had worked on the film as a part of their final semester exercise of the one-year program. They passed out from the FTII in 2023.
This news also signals a potential turnaround in FTII, which was once the centre of creativity and talent, but had gone astray in recent decades, plagued by drugs, violence, and strikes. Other institutes like SRFTI continue to rot, said an ex student.
R. Madhavan, President of FTII, has brought some positive changes. He said, “May this be just the beginning of an illustrious career [of Naik] with many more extraordinary recognition and love. Also, a big cheer and respect to all staff and administration of FTII for churning out such world class talent.”
La Cinef aims at encouraging new talent and recognises films from film schools across the world.
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