Kamar Simon brings home Golden Conch

Kamar Simon receives the award from Shyam Benegal.

Kamar Ahmad Simon's documentary “Shunte Ki Pao!” (“Are You Listening!”) has won the “Golden Conch” for the best documentary in 13th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), one of the oldest and prestigious film festivals in Asia. The award was declared in a dazzling ceremony held in Tata Centre in Mumbai on Sunday, where legendary filmmakers Shyam Benegal and Adoor Gopalkrishnan handed over two Golden Conches, certificates and award money. In addition to this, Kamar also won the award for “Best Cinematography” for the same film.
The festival, a bi-yearly event showcased 15 films only in International Competition of the feature-length segment, where the selection was made from 793 submissions from 34 countries around the world. The MIFF 2014 jury was chaired by eminent filmmaker Anand Patwardhan from India, who was accompanied by film curator Angela Haardt from Germany, Fujioka Asako of Japan, Slovenian film scholar Jurij Meden and noted animator from Mumbai Shilpa Ranade.
Earlier, “Shunte Ki Pao!” received the Grand Prix for best film in 35th Cinema Du Reel, one of the major festivals in Europe held in Paris last year. Besides, the film also received the Jury Prize in Film Southasia 2013, was the curtain opener of 55th edition of the oldest documentary festival of the world Dok Leipzig in 2012 and screened in the 25th edition of IDFA, world's biggest documentary festival.
The film is set to be commercially released at the Star Cineplex on February 21.