MUMBAI: South African film Lucky has won the State Government‘s Golden Bherunda for best film at the recently concluded 4th Bangalore International Film Festival. The award carried a purse of Rs 1 million.

Feo Aladag of Germany bagged the Silver Berunda and Rs 500,000 for his directorial venture When We Leave. Flying Fish from Sri Lanka by Sanjeewa Pushpa Kumar got the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, with a purse of Rs 200,000.

Speaking on behalf of the international section jury, Vishwanath said that Lucky was selected for its portrayal of the socio-political situation in South Africa. "We focussed on the film‘s ability to communicate rather than artistic quality. In fact, Lovely Man by Teddy Soeriaatmadja of Indonesia came close to winning. When We Leave was the natural choice as it is a schematic drama about a woman trying to free herself from the emotional and physical violence of the cruel patriarchal system," he said.

The jury comprised of Sturla Gunnarsson of Canada, Xie Fei of China, Jan Erik Holst of Norway, Gunilla Burstedt of Sweden, Sun Shaoyi of China, Dang Nhat Minh of Vietnam and Kesari Harvoo of India.

Noble Chor, a Bengali film by Suman Ghosh, got the Suchitra Sanman (and Rs 200,000) in the Indian cinema section. The jury of the section 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 while Chintu School by Sheshagiri Yelameli got the jury‘s special mention. The jury comprised Subash Chougle, KR Manoj and Pradipta Nag.