Berlin award for riot film

Indian film — Final Solutions — based on the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat has bagged two awards at the 54th Berlin Internationa...

Indian film — Final Solutions — based on the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat has bagged two awards at the 54th Berlin International Film Festival.

The feature-length documentary film by Rakesh Sharma, was awarded the Wolfgang Staudte award and the Special Jury award at the festival, a relaese said.

Final Solution is the first Indian film to win the Wolfgang Staudte award, instituted in 1990 in the memory of the noted German director.

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The award, carrying a cash prize of 10,000 euros, was presented to the film for being an ‘‘epic documentary focussing on the culture of hatred and indifference’’.

The second award was presented to the film for its clarification of issues that ‘‘spawned hatred and violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat, its analysis of propoganda mechanisms for poltical purposes, and its measured voice to seek a final solution to the conflict’’.

The four other Indian films invited to the festival in the international forum of new cinema section included: Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi by Sudhir Mishra, Maqbool by Vishal Bhardwaj, Kal Ho Na Ho by Nikhil Advani and Hava Aaney De by Partho Sengupta.