By our reporter
TORONTO: Even as Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age childhood story The Fabelmans won the top People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival here on Sunday, three young Indian-origin filmmakers walked away with other prizes.
Indian-born Toronto director Nisha Pahuja’s documentary To Kill a Tiger about the struggles of a Jharkhand family to get justice after the gangrape of their 13-year-old daughter got the the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film.
“A huge honour! I know it could not have been an easy decision given some of the incredible Canadian films this year. Grateful and happy for my team and Ranjit and his family. A big shout out to the team, David Oppenheim, Cornelia Principe, Mrinal Desai, Anita Kushwaha, Jordan Kawai, Anita Lee, Jonathan Goldsmith, Lou Solakofsky, and my incomparable editors, Dave Kazala and Mike Munn. An incredible way for the film to enter the world,” Nisha said after winning the award.
Vinay Shukla’s documentary While We Watched on NDTV’s Ravish Kumar also won the Amplify Voices Award.
It was Shukla’s second documentary to premiere at TIFF after his 2016 documentary titled An Insignificant Man on Arvind Kejriwal.
The award carries a cash prize of $10,000.
Produced by Indian-origin Vinay Virmani, Black Ice, which highlights anti-Black racism in hockey, won the People’s Choice Documentary Award.
Nandita Das’ Zwigato, Rima Das’ Tora’s Husband, Shubham Yogi’s Kacchey Limbu and Shekhar Kapoor’s What’s Love Got To Do With It? were other movies from Indian filmmakers at this year’s festival.
