“Jalaler Golpo” wins two awards at SAARC Festival

Abu Shahed's Emon's directorial debut “Jalaler Golpo” continued its run of critical success at the SAARC Film Festival in Colombo, Sri Lanka, winning two technical awards.  The film won Barkaat Hossain a best cinematographer award, while band Chirkutt nabbed the best original score, at the awards handed out on the festival's closing day on Monday. 

The best feature film went to Neeraj Ghaywan's “Masaan” (India) that had won two awards at the 2015 Cannes. The silver medal (first runner-up for the best feature film competition) was handed to Bhutanese director Khyentse Norbu's “Travellers and Magicians”, while the bronze medal was taken by “Goonga Pehelwan” (India), directed by Mit Jani, Prateek Gupta, Vivek Chaudhury. 

Ghaywan also picked up best director, while Rajab Grussainov won best actor for Afghan film “An Apple from Paradise” (the Homayun Morawat-directed film also won best film in the open category). The best actress award went to Kaushalya Fernando, for the Sri Lankan film “Bora Diya Pokuna”, while his compatriot Chamila Priyanka's “Apple” won best short film. A special jury mention went out to Iram Ghufran's “Benegal's New Cinema” (India), while the special jury certificate of recognition for new talent was given to three Lankans Eranda Mahagama, Sarjani Shanika, Dulanjalee Balage for their film “Living without Life”.  

Apart from Barkaat and Chirkutt, other technical awards went to Indika Ferdinando for best screenplay and Tissa Surendra for Best Editor, both for the film “Ho Gaana Pokuna” (Sri Lanka).