DC South Asian Film Festival Announces 2024 Awards

All the participating filmmakers are winners for their effort, dedication, and challenges of making a film and sharing meaningful stories.

Our Bureau

Washington, DC

The DC South Asian Film Festival is happy to announce the 2024 Jury Awards. This year it had world premieres, USA premieres and DC premieres of independent feature, short, and documentary films. All films were selected based on several criteria, story, technical aspects, acting, and overall storytelling and social message. US Congressman Shri Thanedar opened the film festival on September 13th, and his short film Dear Pra on an important topic of mental health was screened.

This year many independent filmmakers were in attendance from around the world, including Directors Suman Ghosh, Nitin Adsul, Actors Rituparna Sengupta, Indrani Davaluri, and Zen Dot. The Master of Ceremony for the Opening Meet and Greet, Red Carpet, and Film was TV Host Nilima Mehra. The in-person screenings were at Cinema Arts Theater in Fairfax, VA and Writers Center in Bethesda, MD. For more information, visit its website.

The Awardees are:

Champion Of Social Causes – US Congressman Shri Thanedar

Best Feature Film – Puratawn

Best Female Actor – Sharmila Tagore (Puratawn)

Best Male Actor – Yugam Sood (Dear Jassi)

Best Director – Shoaib Sultan (Gunjal)

Best Debut Feature Film – Andhela Ravamidhi

Best Short Film – A night, after all

Best Short Film Social Message – Dear Pra

Best Documentary Jury Mention – Ray of Hope

Best Short Documentary – Broken Mirrors

Best Music Documentary – Mic Drop

Best Short Documentary Jury Mention – Aftershock of a trauma

Best Debut Director Short Film – Chhaya Nene (Kurta Pants)

This year’s film festival has an enchanting array of 50 Films, 7 Countries, 11 Languages, 12 Premieres, 7 Documentaries, and 10 Women Directed Films.  The In Person Film Festival was from Sept 13-15 and 22nd and virtual screenings continue from Sept 16-30, 2024.

DC South Asian Film Festival started in 2012, and in 2017 created DC South Asian Arts Council Inc, a not for profit (501) © (3) organization that has grown into one of the leading ambassadors of global South Asian artists in the country and based out of the DC-MD-VA region.  Through their efforts, each year, the organization’s Film, Literary and Music festivals draw South Asian audiences from a diverse set of backgrounds eager to share each other’s cultures. DCSAACI has an advisory board that includes art-world stalwarts such as award winning director, screenwriter, and member of parliament Shyam Benegal, acclaimed author, and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.