Several Indian celebrities and films have made it to the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The festival commenced on May 15 at the French Riveria and will conclude on May 25. In a major triumph, an Indian student-made film won the first prize at one of the competitions in the gala. 

India shines bright at Cannes

In a major triumph for India at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, Chidananda S Naik's Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know won the first prize of La Cinef on Thursday. The film was made by Naik in his one-year course in the television wing of Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI). Naik is a doctor-turned-filmmaker by profession. 

As per PTI, Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know is based on a Kannada folk tale about an old woman who steals a rooster. The third prize in the category is also won by an Indian-origin filmmaker- Mansi Maheshwari for her animation film Bunnyhood. Maheshwari, born in Meerut and an ex-student of NIFT Delhi, made the film as a student of the UK's National Film and Television School. The second prize was shared by Out of the Widow Through the Wall, directed by Columbia University's Asya Segalovich, and The Chaos She Left Behind, made by Nikos Kolioukos of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

India bags a Cannes La Cinef for the second time in five years

Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know is not the first film to bag the big prize at Cannes in the category. Earlier in 2020, Ashmita Guha Neogi’s film CatDog also won the honour. She was also a student from FTII. 

The first prize winners at the Cannes La Cinef are awarded a 15,000 euro grant, 11,250 euros for the runner and 7,500 euros for the third prize recipient.