Flying Fish (Igillena Maluwo) film by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara won the prestigious NetPac award for the best film in the Asian competition section at the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival in India lastevening.

The film was in the Asian Competition, where FLYING FISH (Igillena Maluwo) competed with,

1. Hanetzu film by Cannes Award winning director Naomi Kawase ( Japan),

2. Policemen (Israel),

3. The Qandil Mountain (Iran),

4. Break Feast, Lunch, Dinner (Thailand, Singapore and China)

5. The house Under Water (Iran),

6.  Waiting (Bangladesh)

7.  Apart Together (China- film has won Silver Berlin Bear - best script award at Berlin Film Festival 2010) by Quan’an Wang

8. Waiting (Bangladesh), Urumi by Veteran Indian director Santosh Sivan,

9. In a village (India)

Flying Fish, Pushpakumara’s first feature film, won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, with a purse of Indian Rs. 2 lakh.

Sun Shaoyi of China, Dang Nhat Minh of Vietnam and Kesari Harvoo of India were the members of the jury.

Mr. Harvoo, who was a jury member for the NETPACK award, said “We zeroed in on Flying Fish as the film weaves its narrative in the background of the Sri Lankan civil war.”

South African film Lucky, produced by Christopher Wilmot and directed by Avie Luthra, won the State Government’s Golden Bherunda for best film. The award comes with a purse of Indian Rs. 10 lakh.

Feo Aladag of Germany bagged the Silver Berunda and Indian Rs. 5 lakh for his directorial venture When We Leave. A jury comprising Sturla Gunnarsson of Canada, Xie Fei of China, Jan Erik Holst of Norway, Gunilla Burstedt of Sweden and P.H. Vishwanath of India selected the films.

Noble Chor, a Bengali film by Suman Ghosh, got the Suchitra Sanman in the Indian cinema section, with a purse of Indian Rs. 2 lakh. The jury comprised Rafique Baghdadi, George Mathew, Manoj Barpujari, Rekha Deshpande and Subhash Desai.

Gandhi Smiles by Krish Joshi and Puttakkana Highway by B. Suresh shared the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy award, and Chintu School by Sheshagiri Yelameli got the Jury Special Mention. The jury comprised Subash Chougle, K.R. Manoj and Pradipta Nag.

Festival Director T.S. Nagabharana announced the awards at a press conference on Thursday along with Artistic Director of BIFFes H.N. Narahari Rao. – The Hindu