Indian filmmaker Chidananda S Naik's 'Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know' won the 1st prize of La Cinef for Best Short at Cannes 2024. Mansi Maheshwari's 'Bunnyhood' won the third prize in the same category. While 'Bunnyhood' is a UK film, it is made by an Indian from Meerut. The La Cinef awards were announced on May 23.

Cannes will allocate a grant of 15,000 euros for the first prize and 11,250 euros and 7,500 euros for the second and third prizes, respectively.

FTII student Chidananda S Naik's 'Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know' won the first prize amongst 17 other films. The selection consisted of 18 films by film students from 2,263 applicants from 555 film schools across the globe.

'Sunflowers were...' is a 16-minute short is the story of a village thrown into chaos by an elderly woman who steals a rooster. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady’s family into exile.

Indian filmmaker Mansi Maheshwari, born in Meerut, made 'Bunnyhood' as part of her graduation project at the National Film Television School (NFTS) in London.

Here's a glimpse:

The second prize was shared by Columbia University's 'Our The Window Through The Wall' by Asya Segalovich and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's 'The Chaos She Left Bheind' by Nikos Kolioukos.

The Short Films and La Cinef jury was chaired by Lubna Azabal and featured Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret and Vladimir Perisic. The award ceremony took place at the Bunuel Theatre on May 23, which was followed by the screening of the films.

The awarded films will have its re-run at the Cinéma du Panthéon on June 3 and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on June 4.

Source: India Today