Peepli Live scores high at World Cinema Amsterdam, narrowly misses Parool Audience Award

AMSTERDAM: Anusha Rizvi's ' Peepli Live' got a warm reception at the World Cinema Amsterdam Film Festival here. Though it narrowly missed winning the Parool Audience Award of 7,500 euros.

The festival had a "Soul of India" special focus this year. Peepli Live, which was produced by Aamir Khan, and tackles Indian farmers' suicides, came third in the audience poll, hot on the heels of Asghar Farhadi's 'A Separation' and Yasemin Samederali's 'Almanya'.

The World Cinema Amsterdam Film Festival, which showcases the best independent films from Asia, Latin America and Africa, ran from August 10-21.

Alejandro Landes' Porfirio (Colombia) won the World Cinema Amsterdam Jury Award, while Asghar Farhadi's 'A Separation' (Iran) won the Parool Audience Award.

The Soul of India section had 18 Indian features, short and animation films, that focussed on independent films, rather than Bollywood.

The more popular Indian films here included Q's (Kaushik Mukherjee's) Gandu (the only Indian film in Competition), Rizvi's Peepli Live, Onir's I Am and Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat.

The other Indian films included Prashant Bhargava's Patang (Kite), Aamir Bashir's Harud (Autumn) and Sidharth Srinivasan's Pairon Talle (Soul of Sand).