Oscar-winning director Jeffrey D Brown's real-life child trafficking drama set in Kolkata, 'Sold', won the audience award at the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) on Thursday night.
The film, executive produced by British actor-filmmaker Emma Thompson and starring Hollywood actress Gillian Anderson, was the opening film of the annual festival which concluded this week.
"It's really amazing. I hadn't really anticipated this at all. I am really grateful, humbled and speechless," said Brown in reference to the award named 'Pure Heaven'.
"I really hope this galvanises more people to see the film so that we can help the kids who've been through this ordeal and we can end this travesty around the globe," he added.
Brown and producer Jane Charles are in advanced discussions with distributors with a view to securing a global release for 'Sold' in early 2015.
The runner-up for the award was Samruddhi Porey's 'Hemalkasa', the festival's closing night film starring well-known Indian actor Nana Patekar. The film is a biopic of the life of Dr Prakash Baba Amte and his wife Mandakini who dedicated their lives towards improving the lot of tribal people in western India with little or no help from the government.
"This was one film that was easy to yes to as I have known the real life character for years. Whatever good I am today is because of him," said Patekar.
"I had to really work on looking nice like him. In the end I was missing my usual angry roles and wanted to bash someone," he added on a lighter note.
