A short film that captured the struggle of a bonded labourer and his family in a Tamil Nadu rice-mill, encapsulated within six-and-a-half minutes, has been adjudged the winner of the first National Human Rights Commission Short Film Award 2015.
The Tamil film, 'The Rice Mill Story', directed by Amith Krishnan is a poignant depiction of the life of bonded labourers across India, who are made to undergo inhuman sufferings, after being initially lured on the pretext of attractive wages.
Hindi short film 'Sapno Ka Basar', directed by Aditya Kapoor and 'Kulfi' (Tamil), by Vivek KR bagged the second and third prizes respectively. Sapno ka Basar is a subtle commentary on social, economic and political structures while Kulfi portrays malnutrition among children.
"We had received a total of 48 entries for the award scheme out of which 34 entries were found to be in consonance with terms and reference set out by the commission. The selected awards and cash prizes will be distributed on National Human Rights day," said Cyriac Joseph, the acting chairperson of NHRC.
The award-winning films were selected by a jury chaired by Sunit Tandon, former Director General of Indian Institute of Mass Communication which comprised Mahesh Joshi, Rajiv Rai, Roshan Gaur, Arun Chadha and Aditi Kapoor among others.
The three award-winning films will be given an amount of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000, and Rs 50,000 thousand respectively.
