Author and filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee's short film Season's Greetings jist won the prestigious Award of Excellence at the 9th Best Shorts Film Festival held in California. Mukherjee's film is the first and only Indian film to have bagged this award. "Ram Kamal's film was unique in terms of narrative and presentation. It stood out as unique visual treat for global audience," says Rick Prickett, the chairman of the Festival.
This short Hindi feature revolves around a mother and daughter relationship set in Kolkata and marks return of actor Celina Jaitly Haag after marriage and motherhood to cinema. The film also stars renowned actor and thespian Lillette Dubey.
This decade old Festival is an avant-garde worldwide competition that strives to discover and honour the achievements of filmmakers who produce high quality shorts. Best Shorts promotes award winners through press releases to over 40,000 filmmakers and studios across the world.
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Produced by Aritra Das and Shhailendra Kkumar, the film also stars debutante Azhar Khan and transgender actor Shree Ghatak in a pivotal role. The film is currently streaming on Zee5 Premium. "I think this is a huge honour for us. Getting recognised for our work on global platform gives us more encouragement in making better content," says producer Aritra Das from Assorted Motion Pictures.
The trophy will be couriered to Mukherjee in India due to COVID-19 pandemic. "I can't wait to flaunt the statuette," says Ram Kamal. "I've been told that this is no less than an Oscar for shorts," adds the effusive filmmaker.