Indian director wins Sundance-Mahindra filmmaking award

Indian director Shonali Bose and three other filmmakers have won the prestigious 2012 Sundance Institute-Mahindra Global Filmmaking award, which recognises and supports independent talent from around the world.

Bose, best known for her award-winning English film "Amu" and upcoming film "Chittagong", bagged the award for her project "Margarita: With A Straw".

The other winners are Australian director Ariel Kleiman for "Partisan", South African filmmaker Etienne Kallos for "Vrystaat" (Free State) and Dominga Sotomayor from Chile for "Late To Die Young".

Each of the winning filmmakers received a cash award of USD 10,000. The awards were presented at a private ceremony at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, by Anand Mahindra, the Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra Group, Rohit Khattar, Chairman, Mumbai Mantra, Michelle Satter, Director and Alesia Weston, Associate Director, Sundance Institute.

Presenting the award to Bose, Anand Mahindra said,"Our core purpose is to use all our resources to drive positive change in the lives of our stakeholders and communities across the world to enable them to rise.

Congratulating the four "incredible" filmmakers, Rohit Khattar said India is at an "exciting storytelling" stage in the history of country's Independent Cinema.