Cinema is one of the few mediums with the power to unite people, Hollywood star Michael Douglas said after receiving the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here on Tuesday.
The 10-day film gala concluded with Endless Borders from Germany winning the coveted Golden Peacock Award for the best film, while Deepak Kumar Mishra-directed Prime Video show Panchayat season two bagged the best OTT series award, which was introduced for the first time.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant felicitated Mr. Douglas with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony.
The veteran actor, known for movies Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, The War of the Roses, Basic Instinct, The American President, highlighted cinema’s role in promoting “our shared humanity”.
“With everything going on in our world today this festival is a reminder of the magic of movie making. Cinema is one of the few mediums that has the power to unite and transform us,” Mr. Douglas said as he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur for the honour.
“Cinema can make people laugh, cry or rejoice and reveal our shared humanity and today our global language of cinema is more meaningful than ever,” he added.
The 79-year-old actor said Satyajit Ray was a world-class filmmaker who represented not only the triumphs of the Indian film industry, but also the “cross-cultural artistic expression”.
“It’s an honour to stand before all of you tonight and receive this. I am humbled to join a prestigious group of past award recipients,” Mr. Douglas said.
He also acknowledged people who laid the foundation for his career, including his late father, Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas.
“The achievements are as much theirs as mine. First to my earliest mentors, the talented filmmakers, countless crew members and technicians,” he said.
“Second to my father Kirk who set a huge high bar with his hard work, his strength and his incredible stamina. I wouldn’t be here but not for his passion and dedication. And to the public he was an icon. But to me he was dad and he provided me with a blueprint that led me to be here today,” he added.
Mr. Douglas thanked all the audiences all over the world for pushing storytellers to explore new filmmaking frontiers.
During the function, his actor-wife, Catherine Zeta Jones, was also felicitated by the Goa Chief Minister.
“I would like to just say, thank you to India for welcoming us. We thought we are going to eat different food. It’s going to be a different culture that we all enjoy, but the one thing that is steadfast is the generosity and welcoming nature and the hospitality of all Indians, whether it’s in Goa, Mumbai, New Delhi or Jaipur,” she said.
Special jury award
The ceremony also saw Rishab Shetty winning the special jury award for his Kannada movie Kantara, while Bulgarian film director Stephan Komandarev won the best director award for his film Blaga’s Lessons.
The best actor (female) award went to French actress Melanie Thierry for her film Party of Fools. Iranian actor Pouria Rahimi Sam bagged the award for best actor (Male) for his performance in the movie Endless Borders.
Regar Azad Kaya won the award for best debutant director for his Syrian-Arab Republic film When the Seedlings Grow.
The jury for the international competition was headed by filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor and also included Spanish cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine, French film producers Jerome Paillard and Catherine Dussart, and Australian film producer Helen Leake.
