INDIAN-CANADIAN FILMMAKER BAGS MAJOR AWARD AT NORTH AMERICA’S TOP FILM FESTIVAL

TORONTO: Filmmaker Lalita Krishna, who has been making documentaries for over 20 years, has become the first person from the Indian-canadian community to win a prestigious lifetime achievement award at Hot Docs, North America’s biggest documentary film festival.

Toronto-based Krishna, who grew up in Kolkata and worked in Delhi’s advertising sector before moving to Canada, has been named winner of the Don Haig Award. The 28th edition of the film festival, an 11-day-long affair, took place virtually this year due to Covid protocols.

Krishna told HT the award was particularly meaningful as it’s “given to the body of work over a period of time and so it recognises a producer who’s contributed over a span of time”.

Just as Don Haig, an Oscarwinning Canadian filmmaker was known for mentorship, the award involves naming an emerging female filmmaker who would receive a cash prize courtesy the Don Haig Foundation.

The recognition is special for Krishna because she said it meant “paying it forward” and her choice for the cash prize is Bangladeshi director Elizabeth D Costa. D Costa was assistant director of the documentary film Bangla Surf Girls, produced and directed by Krishna, which premiered at Hot Docs this year.

The film is about three young girls from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, who find escape from social restrictions in surfing the waves of the Bay of Bengal.