Awarded for directing ‘Fly Away Solo’.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian director Neeraj Ghaywan is one of the recipients of the Sundance Institute-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award for 2014, a prestigious honor bestowed upon one film each year at the annual Sundance Film Festival.
Ghaywan was awarded for directing the film ‘Fly Away Solo’, which tells of four people who aspire to escape the poverty of the place where they come from. According to press notes put out by Sundance, “Four lives intersect along the Ganges river: a lower-caste boy in a hopeless love, a daughter torn with guilt, a father sinking in greed, and a spirited kid craving a family, all yearning to escape the constrictions of a small-town.”
Additionally, Ghaywan has served as an assistant director on some Bollywood projects, including Anurag Kashyap’s 2012 crime epic, Gangs of Wasseypur
The three other winners of the award are Tobias Lindholm (Denmark, A War), Hong Khaou (Vietname/UK, Monsoon), and Ashlee Page (Australia, Archive). Each of the winners will receive $100,000 in prize money as well as continued creative support from the Sundance Institute, which has partnered with the Mahindra Group over the last four years to create the award.
The jury that ultimately gave the award to Ghaywan and his three co-winners was also comprised of several luminaries of Indian cinema, such as Sharmila Tagore (Aradhana), Boman Irani (Main Hoon Na), Rajkumar Hirani (3 Idiots), and Rakeysh Omprakash Meha (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag).
Founded by actor and Academy Award-winner Robert Redford in 1978 (and named after his character in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), the Sundance Film Festival is one of the most highly regarded festivals in the world. The Institute was founded in 1981 by Redford as well, and is meant to serve as a beacon to independent filmmakers looking to get their films seen in a typically studio-driven marketplace.
“Sundance Institute shares with Mahindra Group a joint global commitment to nurturing new artists,” Redford said in a statement. “India is one of the most extraordinary cultures in the world, with the support of Anand Mahindra and his group, Sundance Institute screenwriters’ lab can support the next generation of their storytellers.”
Famous films that made their mark early at Sundance include the Academy Award-winning film Little Miss Sunshine, the quirky romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, and Quentin Tarantino’s modern classic Reservoir Dogs, which served as the unofficial template for the 2002 Bollywood film Kaante.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com