International
Post Mortem and El Premio among awards
MUMBAI: Pablo Larrain‘s Post Mortem and Paula Markovitch‘s El Premio have shared top honors at the 26th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival.
Winner of best Ibero-American picture, Post Mortem is the third feature of the Chilean writer-director. Set against the background of Chile‘s 1973 military coup, the film centers on a twisted love story between a morgue clerk and an aging dancer.
Funny Balloons handles international sales for the Chile-Mexico-Germany co-production.
El Premio, aka The Prize took away the prize for best Mexican film. The film is the story of a mother and daughter who must go into hiding during Argentina‘s dirty war era.
El Premio had it worldwide premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year where it won two Silver Bears for outstanding artistic achievement in camera work and production design.
The film is Argentine-born writer-director Markovitch‘s first feature. Other awards handed out include the best director award for Fernando Leon de Aranoa‘s Spanish drama Amador and Mexican director Odin Salazar‘s Burros (Donkeys). Los Inadapatados (The Misfits), a comedy featuring segments from four different directors, bagged the audience award.
In the documentary section, Patricio Guzman‘s critically acclaimed Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light) got an award in the Ibero-American category while director Jacaranda Correa‘s Morir de Pie (Die Standing Up) came out on top among the Mexican documentaries.
For best first fiction work, the juries chose to honour Sergio Teubal‘s dark comedy El Dedo (The Finger) for the Ibero-America section and Iria Gomez‘s Asalto al Cine (The Cinema Hold Up) for the Mexican competition.
International
Russia-India cinematic spectacle Persimmon of My Love set for grand Moscow debut
Hindi cinema style musical revives Indo-Soviet cinema ties for today
MUMBAI: A new chapter in cross-border storytelling is set to unfold as Persimmon of My Love gears up for its premiere in Moscow on 1 April 2026, marking the first large-scale cinematic collaboration between Russia and India in decades.
Positioned as a modern nod to the cultural exchange that once brought Indian classics to Soviet audiences, the film blends Hindi cinema flair with Russian storytelling, aiming to rekindle a long-standing cinematic friendship.
Directed by Marius Weisberg, the musical comedy follows two brothers navigating a lively world of music, family and romance. The lead roles are played by Demis Karibidis and Mikhail Galustyan, with Karibidis also contributing as a screenwriter.
Shot entirely in India, the production leans heavily into Hindi cinema style spectacle. Filming took place across Mumbai studios and the cities of Udaipur and Jodhpur, whose architecture was used to create the fictional setting of Khurmada. A crew of over 350 worked on the project, with large-scale sequences featuring up to 1,000 extras.
The film also brings Indian creative talent into the mix. Dance sequences are choreographed by Jay Kumar, while music by Zurab Matua features songs in both Hindi and Russian, adding to its cross-cultural appeal.
Backed by TNT channel, MyWayStudio and the Russian Cinema Fund, the project reflects a broader push to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.
With its mix of colour, comedy and cross-border collaboration, Persimmon of My Love is not just a film release but a reminder that cinema, much like music, travels well across borders.
