MUMBAI: South Korea-France film Dooman River/ La Riviere Tumen has won Maharashtra government‘s ‘Best international film‘ award named ‘Prabhat‘ carrying a purse of Rs 1 million on the concluding day of the 9th Pune International Film Festival.

Likewise, the ‘Prabhat‘ best international director award of Rs 500,000 was lapped up by Polish director Borys Lankosz for his film The Reverse. The special jury award was given to Natalie Smirnoff, director of the film Puzzle, a Argentina- France production.

The Sant Tukaram Best Marathi Feature Film award of Rs 500,000 was given to the film Baboo Band Baaja by Rajesh Pinjani. Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) student Tathagata Singha bagged the PIFF special award of Rs 25,000 for direction.

ALT Entertainment & Friday Filmworks‘ first Marathi film, Taaryanche Bait won two top honours. While Shailesh Dupare, Sourabh Bhave and Kiran Yadnyopavit walked away with the award for the best script, Sachin Khedekar‘s portrayal of a father caught in a dilemma won him the best actor award.

Giving his concluding speech, PIFF director Jabbar Patel said, "Next year, we are going to introduce Indian cinema competition award in which first or second film of the Indian director will be eligible for the competition. Forty films from PIFF will be sent to the first Yashwant International festival which will held in Mumbai later this month.‘‘

Minister of state for cultural affairs Faujia Khan, who was the chief guest of the evening, said: "PIFF is the only award function, the state government involves itself with and government takes lots of efforts to encourage Marathi films.‘‘