'Crawling Crows-Aankha' wins big at 8th NIFF

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 25: 'Crawling Crows - Aankha' won the 'Best National Feature Film' at the 8th Nepal International Film Festival that concluded in Kathmandu on Monday. 

The film was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 100,000 along with a trophy.

Likewise, 'Shambala', directed by Min Bahadur Bam, won the Gautam Buddha Award for the Best Narrative Feature Film.

Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung also graced the closing ceremony.

Likewise, the Best Actor in a Leading Role, Female was awarded to Anjana Baraili for Pujar Sarki.

 Nepali film actors Karishma Manandhar, Mithila Sharma, and Sanjita Luitel presented the award to Baraili. 

The Best Actor in a Leading Role, Male was awarded to RK Mehta. His wife Renuka Karki, who is also the co-producer for his film 'Crawling Crows - Aankha', and actor Asmita Adhikari received the award on his behalf.

Best Director in Feature Film Competition was presented to Dinesh Raut for Pujar Sarki, and Best International Screenwriter was awarded to Zaun Yonzan for Crawling Crows - Aankha.

Rajesh Shrestha bagged the Best Cinematographer under the national film category for the film 'Pujar  Sarki'.

Director Nishan Khatri bagged the award for Best Director for his movie 'A Witness'.

Nirajan Raj Bhetwal directed movie 'The Witness Tree' grabbed the Best Short Film and Audience's Choice awards for Best Short Film.

'Devi' by Subina Shrestha won the Best Documentary Award under the national film category.

Among the Audience's Choice Award category, Best Feature Film was awarded to 'Satidevi' by Laxman Subedi, and Best Documentary Film was awarded to 'Girls Rewriting Destiny' by Lawa Pyakurel.

The Bagmati Award for Best International Short Film was presented to Spanish film director Lucía G. Romero. The Bagmati Award is accompanied by a cash prize of USD 500 and a trophy.

Mt. Everest Award for the Best International Documentary Film was given to Melting Snow directed by Mojtaba Bahadori from Belgium. Bahadori received a cash prize of USD 1,000 and a trophy.

'The Abyss' from Argentina was honoured with the Manjushree Award for Best AI film, which received a cash prize of USD 500 and a trophy.

Indian movie Rukmini, directed by Nilay Prashant Raje, won the International Federation of Film Society - Don Quixote Award for Best Feature Film. 

Organised by the Nepal Film and Cultural Academy, the 8th NIFF featured 87 films from 40 countries.