Cannes 2024: India's 'Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know' wins La Cinef prize

Chidananda S Naik's ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ won the first prize of La Cinef for best short at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 23, marking a significant victory for India. This is India's second win in five years at La Cinef, with Ashmita Guha Neogi, also from FTII, having won the award for her film ‘CatDog’ in 2020.

Speaking with Variety, Chidananda said, ‘We had only four days. I was basically told not to make this film. It’s based on folklore from Karnataka [in India]. These are the stories we grew up with, so I was carrying this idea since my childhood.’

The third prize in the La Cinef competition was awarded to Mansi Maheshwari's animation film ‘Bunnyhood.’ Mansi, born in Meerut and a former student of NIFT Delhi, created the film as a student at the UK's National Film and Television School. The third prize includes a 7,500 euro grant.

The second prize was shared between ‘Out of the Widow Through the Wall,’ directed by Asya Segalovich from Columbia University, and ‘The Chaos She Left Behind,’ made by Nikos Kolioukos from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The second prize winners received an 11,250 euro grant. The awarded films will be screened at the Cinema du Pantheon on June 3 and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on June 4.

About ‘Sunflowers Were The First Ones to Know’

The filmmaker created ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ at the end of his one-year course in the television wing of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). The film, based on a Kannada folk tale, tells the story of an old woman who steals a rooster, causing her village to fall into perpetual darkness. The Cannes Film Festival awarded the first prize winner a 15,000 euro grant.

The 16-minute short fiction film premiered at the festival on May 21. ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ was one of 18 titles evaluated by a five-member jury chaired by Belgian actress Lubna Azabal.

Also Watch | Cannes 2024: Aditi Rao Hydari stuns in a black-and-white strapless gown; see pics