At the 77th Cannes Film Festival, India made a significant impact with Chidananda S. Naik’s film “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know…” winning the top prize in the La Cinef section. Naik, originally a doctor from Mysuru who transitioned to filmmaking, created this award-winning film during his year-long course at the Film and Television Institute of India’s television wing in Pune.
The winning films will be shown at the Cinéma du Panthéon on June 3 and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on June 4. The Cannes Festival provides grants of €15,000 for the First Prize, €11,250 for the Second Prize, and €7,500 for the Third Prize.
“Sunflowers…” is inspired by a Kannada folk tale about an old woman who steals a rooster, leading to the sun ceasing to rise in her village. The third prize in the La Cinef competition went to “Bunnyhood,” an animated film by Mansi Maheshwari, a former NIFT Delhi student from Meerut.
Naik, 29, shared his inspiration for the film, stating, “For my graduation project, I always wanted to do a Kannada film, so that’s where it all began. During our brainstorming sessions, I proposed the idea, and my team was eager to adopt it as our graduation film.
The Short Films and La Cinef Jury, chaired by Lubna Azabal, held the awards ceremony at the Buñuel Theatre, followed by screenings of the winning films. La Cinef included 18 student films chosen from 2,263 submissions from 555 film schools globally.
