{"id":6900,"date":"2026-05-24T12:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T16:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/saffm-2026-award-winners\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T13:24:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:24:40","slug":"saffm-2026-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/saffm-2026-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"SAFFM 2026 Award Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n

Best Feature Fiction<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n

Best Feature Documentary<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n

Best Short Fiction<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n

Best Short Documentary<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n

Audience Choice Awards<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury<\/span> Short Films<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Binita Mehta<\/strong> is Professor of French Emerita at Manhattanville College where she taught courses in French language, literature, and film. She is passionate about cinema, especially French-language cinema. She has also written articles and given talks on films by South Asian diasporic filmmakers.<\/p>\n

Ghazala Amin<\/strong> is a former Associate Professor in History at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. She has acted in feature films and television films. A prime-time news anchor on Doordarshan Television channel, she was the presenter for the Asian programme on BBC Television and did over 1600 radio programmes for the BBC during her three-year stint in England between 1984-87.<\/p>\n

Ridhima Mehra<\/strong> is Co-Founder and Director of Rough Edges, which enables, mentors and produces feminist and queer documentary films, foregrounding the distinct voices of women, trans and queer artists. She draws on almost two decades of experiences at the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, India’s largest documentary body.<\/p>\n

Sameea Jamil<\/strong> is a Professor of Media Studies with a focus on International Communications and media content creation, particularly in film. Her work examines the impact of media on cross-border cultures. Sameea has been instrumental in initiating media programs at several colleges and universities.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n
<\/p>\n

Binita Mehta<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Ghazala Amin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Ridhima Mehra<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sameea Jamil<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury Award for<\/span> Short Fiction<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Winner:\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Winner: Permanent Guest (Pakistan) - Director: Sana Jafri<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: The film offers a compelling, nuanced and textured portrayal of the enduring permanence of sexual trauma, while interrogating the deeply patriarchal codes of silence and performance that hold survivors back from sharing their experiences and seeking justice and closure. Its greatest strength is its restraint and undramatic character, forcing us to uncomfortably confront the everyday realities we routinely normalize.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Runner\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Runner Up: Dear 202 (India) - Director: Aniket Kale<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: The film powerfully communicates the dilemma between the selfish instinct to stay safe and the impulse to be human. With a strong performance and the gradually building bond between a shunned single man and a dog abandoned by its circumstances, this is a moving film with a unique take on the pandemic that emphasizes the significance of compassion, concern, love and connection across all life forms.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: The Last Endless Night (Sri Lanka) - Director: Jacob Luke Jeroshan<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A powerful, haunting and difficult film to watch, connecting the personal and the political - a conflict in a land we don't speak of enough. Blurring the boundary between fiction and documentary, lived and imagined, it makes fear, pain and anxiety palpable, allowing us a peek into the mind of a young child through whom we understand the vulnerabilities of an entire people torn apart by conflict.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: Ali (Bangladesh\/Philippines) - Director: Adnan Al Rajeev<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: Shot with sensitivity and crafted superbly, with metaphorical and layered storytelling, this film is a lyrical and urgent commentary on censorship, repression, enforced homogeneity, and the eternal quest to find, reveal, accept and reclaim oneself in increasingly erosive and authoritarian contexts.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury Award for<\/span> Short Documentary<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Winner:\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Winner: The Mother, the Sons and the Holy River (Pakistan) - Directors: Natasha Javed & Nirmal Bano<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A beautiful, complex and layered film, it expertly blends forms to simultaneously evoke the mythical and the lived, the past and the present, life and death. It powerfully explores complex questions about structures of power and aggression - borders, capitalism, industry and geo-political conflicts, the perilous consequences of climate change and the precarity of nature and people rendered invisible by them.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Runner\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Runner Up: Butterfly Bhutan (Bhutan) - Director: Sonam Yangzom<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: An important film that touchingly chronicles the strident efforts of one person on a mission to drive real change and bring to the fore the conflict between the practice of faith and its inadvertent adverse impact on the environment we are meant to collectively preserve. The film carries hope in how solidarities can be forged across generations.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: Naaz (United States) - Director: Bakhtawar Tagar<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: The film insightfully highlights the abject neglect of public health care for rural women and the firm and relentless determination of Dr. Naaz to continue providing critical care with enormous compassion, in the face of personal and institutional crises, exacerbated by a deeply patriarchal system.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury<\/span> Feature Documentary<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Mathieu Boisvert<\/strong> is a professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al. Since 2012, his research interests are oriented towards the hijra (“transgender”) communities in South Asia. Boisvert is one of the co-directors of India and its Avatars: Pluralities of an Emerging Power.<\/p>\n

Rahila Bootwala<\/strong> is a Montreal-based film producer and director. She has worked on international co-productions in different capacities as an associate, executive and finally into a film producer. Her most recent project is the well acclaimed documentary Women Beyond Bollywood, which she has both produced and directed.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n
<\/p>\n

Mathieu Boisvert<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Rahila Bootwala<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury Award for<\/span> Feature Documentary<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Winner:\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Winner: Love Chaos Kin (United States) - Director: Chithra Jeyaram<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: This documentary is incredibly timely given the current global climate of prejudice. It explores the crux of navigating interpersonal relationships while building bonds of acceptance across religion, race, and culture. The characters are engaging and honest, capturing the fragility and bravery required in open adoption.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Runner\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Runner Up: No Space to Pray (India) - Directors: Raunaq Singh Chopra & Devanshi Yadav<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: This documentary is vital for highlighting the marginalization of Indian Muslims. It documents the intolerance surrounding Friday prayers in Gurugram, where assigned areas were reduced from 107 to just 6. The film exposes a troubling collusion between local authorities and political elements, capturing a grave trend that is beginning to spread.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: The Lost Queen (India) - Director: Saumya Sengupta<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: The film follows Sultana Begum's daily life, a descendant of the last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who is living in abject poverty while she is the rightful owner of Delhi's Red Fort. The director's human, personal and respectful approach makes this a very touching documentary.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury<\/span> Feature Fiction<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Ali Kazimi<\/strong> is a Full Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts at York University and an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work explores race, social justice, migration, history, and memory. In 2019, he received Canada’s highest artistic honour – the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts.<\/p>\n

Arnab Banerjee<\/strong> is a journalist who has explored the spectrum of contemporary media practice over two decades. He has worked extensively with some of India’s most eminent national dailies. His editorial footprint spans cinema, music, the arts, and cultural discourse.<\/p>\n

Ridhima Mehra<\/strong> is Co-Founder and Director of Rough Edges, which enables, mentors and produces feminist and queer documentary films, foregrounding the distinct voices of women, trans and queer artists. She draws on almost two decades of experiences at the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, India’s largest documentary body.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n
<\/p>\n

Ali Kazimi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Arnab Banerjee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Ridhima Mehra<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Jury Award for<\/span> Feature Fiction<\/span> <\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Winner:\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Winner: Sabar Bonda (India) - Director: Rohan Kanawade<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A beautiful, tender, layered and deeply humane film that brings to us life, loss and love not as enormous tragedies or grand triumphs, but in all their everyday complexity, fragility, pain and splendour. With well-etched characters, stellar performances, evocative camerawork and rich atmospherics, the film invites us to intensely experience the reluctance, inevitability and excitement of a slow burn romance between two men.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Runner\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Runner Up: Shadowbox (India) - Directors: Tanushree Das & Saumyananda Sahi<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A rare kind of rumination on the endless cycles of labour, exhaustion, entrapment, resilience and waiting, born out of love and care, but especially the weight of deeply gendered roles and responsibilities. Effectively conveying the quiet claustrophobia and suffocation of trauma and the everyday struggle to survive and reclaim humanity.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: Flames (India) - Director: Ravi Shankar Kaushik<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A powerful film that adeptly explores complex questions of caste, identity, marginalisation, discrimination and violence, not as aberrations, but as structural realities that ubiquitously and ferociously throb amidst us, reproduced as unending cycles of brutality that implicate us all.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"Special\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
Special Mention: Boong (India) - Director: Lakshmipriya Devi<\/h6>\n

Jury Citation: A lovely, endearing and charming film that deftly explores the personal and the political as deeply fragile and precarious states of being that shape each other. Skillfully imagined and told through the perspective of a young child, the film pushes us to confront the many complex faultlines that deeply fracture the people and the land of Manipur.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Best Feature Fiction Best Feature Documentary Best Short Fiction Best Short Documentary Audience Choice AwardsJury Short Films Binita Mehta is Professor of French Emerita at Manhattanville College where she taught courses in French language, literature, and film. She is passionate about cinema, especially French-language cinema. She has also written articles and given talks on films [...]","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6900","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6900"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7041,"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6900\/revisions\/7041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saffm.centrekabir.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}