‘Bulbul Can Sing’ and others bag awards at IFFM

Assam filmmaker Rima Das's 'Bulbul can sing' bagged the Best Indie Film Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), which is currently underway in Australia.

Expressing joy, Rima took to Twitter to thank IFFM saying:

Thank you to the jury of Indian Film Festival of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne @IFFMelb for awarding #BulbulCanSing the Best Indie Film. Kudos to the Festival Director Mitu Bhowmick and the whole team for putting together this unique festival. pic.twitter.com/DNJILzrx5h

— rima das (@rimadasFilm) August 9, 2019

Last evening, the latest Assamese feature had been screened as the opening film of IFFM. The 7-day festival is set to conclude on August 15, which will screen more than 60 films from all across India and the subcontinent in over 22 languages.

Big names such as Shah Rukh Khan, Simi Garewal, Tabu, Arjun Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Gayathrie Shankar, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar and Sriram Raghavan were present at the event.

'Bulbul Can Sing' showcases the stories of three teenagers who are trying to come to terms with their sexual identities while dealing with the ideals and morales of the villagers.

The film has already earned praises in various international film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival. Rima is best known for making 'Village Rockstars', an Assamese language film which won the National Award for Best Feature Film last year. It was even chosen as Indias official entry to the Oscars.

Other than 'Bulbul can sing', films that shone bright in IFFM are:

• IFFM Best Short Film: My Name is Mohamed And Raghad, We Don't Exist Here Anymore by Ali Mousawi and Be My Brother by Genevieve Clay
• Telstra People's Choice Award: Simmba
• IFFM Best Director: Sriram Raghavan for Andhadhun
• IFFM Best Actor: Vijay Sethupathi for Super Deluxe
• IFFM Best Actress: Tabu for Andhadhun
• IFFM Best Film: Gully Boy
• PWC Equality in Cinema award an honorary award: Chuskit and Super Delux

Additionally, the IFFM Diversity Award was bestowed on filmmaker Onir. Simultaneously, Shah Rukh Khan was awarded the IFFM Excellence in Cinema award.