Arab cinema rules at India's Osian's film festival

New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) Films from Turkey, Iran and Morocco pocketed the maximum number of awards at the just-concluded Osian's Cinefan festival, including best film, director, actor and actress. In the Asian and Arab Competition, Turkish film "Inside" by Zeki Demirkubuz was adjudged the best by a jury comprising Marco Mueller (artistic director of Rome Film Festival) and filmmakers Muzaffar Ali, Ali Mostafa (Iran), Magdi Ahmed Ali (Egypt) and James V Hart (the US). In "Inside", protagonist Muharrem pressgangs his old friends into inviting him to dinner, where old grievances come tumbling out into an ugly showdown. As the night becomes charged with tears, anger and regret; the outrage spills onto the dark streets, and into sleazy hotel rooms. Faouzi Bensaidi won the Best Director for the Moroccan film "Death For Sale". It was a double triumph for Iranian film "Modest Reception" as it won awards for the Best Actress (Taraneh Alidousti) and Best Actor (Mani Haghighi). The Special Jury Prize in the section went to "Postcards from the Zoo" (Indonesia) while Japanese film "Milocrorze: A Love Story" got a special mention. The First Feature Competition was also won by Turkish film "Beyond the Hill" by Elmin Alper with a Special Mention to "In April Following Year there was a Fire" (Thailand). The section was judged by filmmakers Huseyin Karabey and Gurvinder Singh and Korean actor and writer Jeon Kyu-hwan. "Beyond the Hill" uses space, landscape and facial contours of characters to express the tension-ridden tenor of the film. With limited spoken words, Alper is able to evoke the thought that what lies inside you can be more harmful than what lies beyond the hill. "Silent", a 14-minute Turkish film by L Rezan Yesilbas, was named the best in Shorts in Competition section. The film is about a woman Zeynep, who lives with her three children and wants to visit her husband in prison. She is only able to speak her mother tongue Kurdish. However, only Turkish language is allowed to be spoken in prison, so she's unable to utter a word there. Another Turkish film "The Bus" by Olgu Baran Kubilay got a Special Mention. The shorts section jury comprised filmmakers Panah Panahi (Iran), Ashvin Kumar and Umesh Kulkarni. PTI