FTII student Chidananda S, the writer and director of the short film 'Sunflowers were the first ones to know'  has won the first prize at the La Cinef section of the Cannes Film Festival.

• The Short Films and La Cinef Jury awarded the 2024 La Cinef prizes on Thursday during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films.
• This year, La Cinef consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of 2,263 entries from 555 film schools around the world.
• Chidanand’s film is based on a folklore from Karnataka and was produced as part of FTII’s year end coordinated exercise of TV-wing.
• The short film narrates the story of an elderly woman who steals the village’s prized rooster, causing turmoil within the community, resulting in the exile of the old woman’s family.