Filmmaker Ajitpal Singh’s internationally acclaimed debut Hindi feature Fire In The Mountains wins the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 19th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The festival was held virtually in California from May 20-27.
The 82-minute film is an intense family drama about a mother who toils to save money to build a road in a remote Himalayan village to take her wheelchair-bound son for physiotherapy. However, her husband believes that a shamanic ritual (Jagar) is the remedy, and steals her savings.
Excited about winning the Audience Award for Best Film, the self-taught filmmaker and the writer-director of the film Ajitpal says, “We always have an audience in mind when we make films, it’s great to know that Fire in the Mountains resonated with its viewers in California and they rewarded us with the award.”
The Opening Night screening of the film was followed by Q & A with Ajitpal about the film and its process.
Fire in the Mountains had its World Premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2021 as the only film selected from South Asia among 10 films in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition
The Jar Pictures production, the film is produced by Ajay Rai and Alan McAlex and co-produced by Mauli Singh and Amit Mehta.