Malayalam filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery won the Silver Peacock Award for best director for his film Jallikattu at the 50th edition of International Film Festival of India, which concluded in Goa on Thursday.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.
Jallikattu depicts the life in a village where a buffalo goes loose and everyone is chasing it, and compares man’s behaviour with the beast. The movie was premiered at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year and was released in theatres in October. It is scripted by S Hareesh and R Jayakumar.
Lijo had won the best director award in the 49th edition of the festival in 2018 too for his film Ee.Ma.Yau.
As many as 190 films were screened from 76 different countries in this year's festival. Among those, 90 Indian Premieres, 6 World Premieres and 11 Asian Premieres took place.
Renowned dancer Tanushree Shankar and the duo band Colonial Cousins performed at the festival. Many glittering stars from the world of entertainment and cinema also performed at IFFI.
Indian Music Wizard Ilayaraaja conducted a master class on Wednesday which was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.
