AWARDS

Best Narrative Feature – My Last Round (Mi Ultimo Round)

Special Jury Mention – Narrative Feature – We The Outsiders… (Aamhi Ka Tisre…)

2011, 109 mins, India Director: Ramesh Laxman More

Jury’s Citation:
The jury would also to make a special mention for Ramesh Laxmans More”s Marathi film We The Outsiders (Aamhi Ka Tisre). This is a rare movie in an Indian language that speaks from the heart about a community in India that even as per law is left alone to roam around the streets without an identity, without any social security, and without the care and respect that everyone in our society deserves. An absolutely entertaining movie, We The Outsiders (Aamhi Ka Tisre) gives a voice to the third gender and deserves applause.

Best Documentary Feature – Let the Butterflies Fly (Chittegalu Haradali)

2012, 74 min, India
Director: Gopal Menon

Jury’s Citation:
The best film award in the category ”Documentary Feature” goes to Gopal Menon”s Let The Butterflies Fly from India. Following the story of a young Shilpa from the hijra community, who was force to undergo a thoroughly sex-change operation by the Bangalore police, the film is a stunning expose on how the state that is entrusted with the powers to protect us uses its might instead to suppress the marginalised.

The film also reveals a bitter truth that we”ve always sort of known but rarely seen — how a sensationalist media is in fact a tool that the police use to plant stories, spread rumours and serve personal agendas.

This is a powerful film that we believe should be watched by all of us, so the message spreads and various Shilpas of this world eventually find justice. We hope the courts will listen too.

(The best documentary feature award category includes Indian and International films made in 2011/2012. It carries a plaque and a gift hamper.)

Best Documentary Short – Are We So Different (Amra Ki Etoi Bhinna)

2011, 36.40 min, Bangladesh
Director: Lok Prakash

Jury’s Citation:
The best film in the Documentary Shorts category goes to Lok Prakash”s Are We So Different (Aamra Ki Etoi Bhinno) from Bangladesh. A phenomenally sensitive documentary on the gay community of Bangladesh, the film speaks from the heart, and reveals stories of sheer courage and deep hurt. It”s a bold account of men and transgenders fighting for space in a completely patriarchal society. This is as true for India as it is true for Bangladesh and so many cultures where we”ve forgotten to celebrate differences between us that make us all special in our own ways. The characters in the film bare their  souls before the camera. What you”re left is a film that is as unique as its courageous protagonists.

(The best documentary short award category includes Indian and International films made in 2011/2012 which are less than 50 minutes.)

Special Jury Award – Documentary Short – Rites of Passage

2011, 46 min, USA Director: Jeff Roy

Jury’s Citation:
The jury would also like to make an honourable mention for Jeff Roy”s Rites Of Passage from the United States of America. A compelling story, sharply told, the film captures the inner dilemmas, doubts and pains that 40-year-old Maya Jaffer goes through while on her journey to Bangkok to undergo a gender realignment surgery. It”s easy to like this deeply personalised movie. It”s not easy being Maya. We must give it up for Maya. Of course, we must give it up for this wonderful film.

Best International Narrative Short – Through The Window (Me’ever La’chalon)

2011, 12 min, Israel
Director: Chen Shumowitz

Jury’s Citation:
Best film in the category of Narrative Shorts goes to Chen Shumowitz”s Through The Window from Israel. This is 12-minute movie that manages to effectively drive home a point over two scenes what most movies don”t manage in over two hours. A mother notices her daughter from her window, kissing another girl. That”s it. Just this moment, and you have a film with hardly any dialogues, but emotions and performances that leave you stunned by its simplicity and brevity of thought. It”s a remarkable achievement in film making, and was a unanimous choice for the best film award in its category.

(International narrative short films made in 2011/2012 compete for this award, which carries a plaque and a gift hamper.)

Best Indian Narrative Short

There was no winner awarded in this category

(Indian narrative short films made in 2011/2012 compete for this award which carries a plaque, a gift hamper, and a free two-day HD shooting kit (camera, mike, and one light) sponsored by Accord Equips.)

Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker – The Night is Young (Raat Baaki)

2012, 8 min, India
Director: Pradipta Ray

Jury’s Citation:
The jury presents the 2012 Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker to Pradipta Ray for The Night is Young (Raat Baaki) which in eight short minutes presents a surprisingly complex narrative of sex and sexuality, humor and humanity, but which draws attention as well to the stigma and discrimination LGBT people face in our society, all in a tightly edited and competently acted package.

(Indian narrative and documentary short films made in 2011/2012 that are the filmmaker’s first or second film compete for this award which carries a plaque, a gift hamper, and a free two day HD shooting kit (camera, mike, and one light) sponsored by Accord Equips. It also carries a cash award of Rs10,000 sponsored by Wadia Movietone.)

KASHISH Coffee Break Audience Award – Logging Out

2012, 7.34 min, India
Director: Nakshatra

(10 films under 10 mins made in 2011/2012 compete for this online competition, where audience from all over the world can watch and vote to pick the winner. The award carries a plaque & a distribution deal with Indieflix.)

Best Poster Design – S. Ayyappa

(An international poster design contest started this year for designers from all over the world to conceptualize and design the official KASHISH Poster. The award carries a plaque and a gift hamper.)