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Cannes 2024: India's Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know by Chidananda S Naik wins La Cinef award
Indian director Chidananda S Naik's film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know won Best Short at Cannes 2024, a major triumph for India.
The film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know by Indian director Chidananda S Naik secured the top honor for Best Short at Cannes 2024, marking a significant victory for India. This achievement marks India's second first prize in five years, following Ashmita Guha Neogi's win for her film CatDog in 2020. The esteemed La Cinef awards were announced on May 23rd.
Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know wins Cannes’ La Cinef Award
Chidananda S Naik, a student from FTII, emerged victorious with his film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know out of a selection of 17 other films. These films were among 18 chosen from a vast pool of 2,263 submissions from 555 film schools globally. Cannes will grant 15,000 euros for the first prize, 11,250 euros for the second, and 7,500 euros for the third.
In the same category, Bunnyhood by Mansi Maheshwari claimed the third prize. Despite being a UK production, the film is the work of an Indian filmmaker from Meerut. Mansi Maheshwari, originally from Meerut, made Bunnyhood her graduation project at the National Film Television School (NFTS) in London.
Chidananda S Naik on making Sunflowers: Were the First Ones to Know
Chidananda, discussing the same, told Variety, "We had only four days. I was basically told not to make this film. It’s based on folklore from Karnataka (in India). These are the stories we grew up with, so I have been carrying this idea since my childhood."
More about Sunflowers: Were the First Ones to Know
After his one-year course in the television wing of the Film and Television Institute of India, the filmmaker produced this film. It draws inspiration from a Kannada folk tale depicting an elderly woman's theft of a rooster, which casts her village into unending darkness. Titled Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know, this 16-minute short portrays the turmoil unleashed upon a village due to the elderly woman's actions. In a bid to retrieve the rooster, a prophecy is invoked, leading to the exile of the old woman's family.
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