NEW DELHI: Haider, the third film in Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy of William Shakespeare adaptations has won the Mondo Genere programme at the 9th International Rome Film Festival.
Set in Kashmir in 1995, the Hamlet reimagining is about a young man seeking revenge after his father was kidnapped by the Indian military.
The other Asian film award went to Xu Ang’s 12 Citizens which won the award for the Cinema d’Oggi section. A remake of Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men, the Chinese drama is about 12 people from different walks of life deliberating on a murder case as the jury of a law school mock trial.
The awards in Rome were determined by audiences who voted via a mobile application, the festival website or at physical voting stations placed in multiple venues.
The BNL People’s Choice Award for the gala section went to Stephen Daldry’s Trash.
Unlike previous edition, this year’s festival did not include an international competition. Instead, it expanded the audience award to give one prize for each programme in the official selection. The original award for Best First/Second film was also expanded to the Camera d’Oro Prize for Best Debut Film this year.
This year’s Camera d’Oro prize went to Andrea Di Stefan for Paradise Lost (in gala), Laura Hastings-Smith for X+Y (in Alice nella citta) and a special mention award went to Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli’s Last Summer.
