Author turned filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s Season’s Greetings, a tribute to Rituparno Ghosh bagged the prestigious Award of Excellence at 9th Best Shorts Film Festival in California at USA. As the world is going through great depression, this news comes as a whiff of fresh air. Incidentally, Mukherjee’s film is the first and only Indian film to have bagged this prestigious 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 the heartland of Kolkata. The film marks return of Celina Jaitly Haag after marriage and motherhood to cinema. The film also stars Lillette Dubey known for her international films and theatres across the world. “This is an exceptional film competition for new and experienced filmmakers. These awards are recognized by IMDb. I thank chairman Rick Prickett and all of the judges for the honour,” says director Ram Kamal Mukherjee. The leading ladies Celina Jaitly & Lillette Dubey got a special mention from the jury for their outstanding performances.
This decade old Festival is an avant-garde worldwide competition that strives to give talented directors, producers and actors global recognition. It discovers and honors 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. “Our talented award winners have gone on to win Oscars, Emmys, Tellys and other awards,” added Rick Pickett. 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 recognized for our work on global platform gives us more encouragement in making better content,” says producer Aritra Das from Assorted Motion Pictures.
The judging takes place by industry professionals including Emmy, Telly and Communicator award nominees and recipients. Judges score entries on a performance scale and winning entries are recognized and awarded in three different categories like Awards of Excellence or Awards of Merit or Award of Recognition.
“Ram Kamal’s Season’s Greetings was presented with Awards of Excellence for truly exceptional filmmaking,” informs Rick Pickett.
The trophy of will be couriered to the director in India as they are not having any ground event due to Covid19 pandemic. “I can’t wait to flaunt the statuette,” says Ram Kamal. Incidentally the 24 karat gold plated statue mounted on a piano finished base of rosewood is designed by New York based 50 years old company Polich Tallix that makes the world’s most prestigious the Oscar and the Emmy! “I’ve been told that this is no less than an Oscar for shorts,” quips Ram Kamal.