Hungarian director Lili Horvath's socio-realist drama "The Wednesday Child" won the best film award at the 21st Kolkata International Film Festival, which concluded today.
"The Wednesday Child" is a tale of a rebellious teen mother determined to regain custody of her young son.
Columbian director Libia Stella Gomez won the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for best woman director for her film "Ella", which tells a heartwarming story of an old man who struggles to gather money for the funeral of his wife.
Gomez was awarded by the jury, headed by veteran actress Sharmila Tagore.
Yemeni filmmaker Khadija Al-Salami won the jury's special mention award for bringing forth the plight of child brides through her film "I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced".
"Marriage under the age of 16 is an arranged rape by the people of the family who are supposed to protect you. It is a criminal practise. We need to enforce law to fight and get rid of this tradition," Khadija said after receiving the award.
The 21st edition of the festival featured 149 movies from 61 countries, screened in 12 locations in the city from November 14.
"The festival was propelled by the crowd. Some could not even get seats. It is the passion and enthusiasm of the people, who stood in queues for a long time to watch films," Tagore said.
