Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, May 4: On Wednesday, Odisha’s four filmmakers were conferred with the 64th National Film Awards from President Pranab Mukherjee at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Nilamadhab Panda, Lipika Singh Darai, Shibu Prusty and Sankhajeet De were honoured with the title. Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore were also present at the occasion.
Panda’s ‘Kadvi Hawa’ received a ‘Special Mention’ from the 64th National Film Awards jury for highlighting farmers’ struggle against the changing environmental conditions depicting stories from drought-prone Bundelkhand and vanishing villages in Coastal Odisha. Darai’s 20-minute English film ‘The Waterfall’ was awarded as the Best Educational Film. The film is shot in and around Khandadhar waterfall. It shows the evolution of a young city boy from appreciating the value of environment and at the same time critically analyse the climate change and development. The Best Arts/Culture Film awards went to Prusty and De for their Odia documentary feature films that deal with Jagannath Culture and Shadow Puppetry of Odisha respectively. Prusty’s ‘The Lord of the Universe’ is a 55-minute docu-feature film that showcases the aspects of Jagannath Culture while De’s ‘The Shadow of Time’ (Samayara Chhaire) is a 190-minute-long documentary that explores the journey of Ravana Chhaya, the shadow puppet form practiced in Odisha.
