Third Eye 6th Asian Film Festival Concludes


The Third Eye 6th Asian Film Festival, which held the entire city enthralled from November 2 across three venues in Mumbai, concluded on 8th October, 2007, at Plaza cinema Dadar, Mumbai.

This year over 70 films were showcased during the seven-day festival in 35 mm as well as digital formats.

The dignitaries present on the occasion were Dr. Narendra Jadhav (VC Pune University), Amol Palekar, Kiran Shantaram, Shyam Benegal, Festival Director Sudhir Nandgaonkar, Aruna Vasudev and Kumar Ketkar, editor of Loksatta.

Padma Bhushan and the winner of 17 national awards, Shyam Benegal, who was recently conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke award was felicitated at the closing ceremony of the 6th Asian Film Festival.

Speaking on the occasion Shyam Benegal, who has made films like 'Mandi', 'Bhumika' 'Nishant' and serials like 'Yatra' and 'Bharat Ek Khoj' said, ‘I am deeply honoured by being conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award which puts me in the league of truly great filmmakers. I don't know whether I deserve it but I am honoured that my friends like Sudhir have felicitated me.’

The Satyajit Ray Memorial Award for promoting films as an art form was presented to Aruna Vasudev, founder editor of a magazine Cinemaya devoted to Asian cinema and founder Director of Osian's Cinefan Festival. Sudheer Nandgaokar acknowledged the role of Aruna in being the inspiration behind the Third Eye Film Festival.

While, the Asian Film Culture Award was presented to the 84-year old veteran Bengali director Tapan Sinha, who has won 19 national awards in different categories of cinema. The 6th Asian Film Festival had held a retrospective of Sinha's works showcasing films like 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut', 'Kabuliwalah' and 'Hungry Stones'.
As Tapan Sinha was unwell, Rinki Bhattacharya daughter of legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy collected the award on his behalf.

Best Debut Film Award





'A Few Kilos of Dates for Funeral'  directed by Saman Salour

Best Short Film Fiction Award



'Vishwanath Ek Shimpi' directed by Kanchan Nayak

Dr. Kiran Shantaram assured the audience that the Seventh Third Eye Asian Film Festival will also be held in spite of the funds crunch they face.