MUMBAI: Children‘s Film Society‘s Gujarati Film Harun-Arun has won the Golden Butterfly award at the 25th Isfahan International Children Film Festival (ICFF) in Iran, as the ‘Best Asian‘ film.
The film, directed by Vinod Ganatra, explores the story of Harun, who is extremely fond of Indian film songs. The rough life in a hostile environment has taught him a lot of survival skills. On hearing stories about his family in India, Harun is excited and is keen to visit them, but after being separated, while crossing the border, he is compelled to undertake the journey to Lakhpat on his own.
On the Indian side, Harun comes across three Indian children who take him under their wings, hiding and protecting him without the knowledge of their mother Valbai, until he finds new home. An exuberant game of hide-and-seek ensues in this heartwarming story of youthful courage and powerful friendship in a divided nation. This proves that issues of the heart are the issues of the world, not limited to any community or clan or geographical boundaries.
Among the several awards it won, Harun-Arun started its journey with winning the prestigious Liv Ullmann Peace Prize at Chicago in November, 2009. Later, the film won awards at the Dhaka International Film Festival in January, 2010 and Transmedia ‘Critics Jury Award‘ in March, 2010. It followed up by bagging the CIFEJ jury prize and special mention for humanity award by a children‘s jury at the Rimouski International Film Festival, among others.
