{"id":635949,"date":"2026-10-20T04:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635949\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T04:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:50:13","slug":"mayilaa-the-gymnasts-of-fisherman-colony-win-at-tasveer-film-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635949\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mayilaa,’ ‘The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony’ Win At Tasveer Film Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Tasveer Film Festival<\/a> in Seattle has wrapped its 21st edition with the announcement of awards in multiple categories.<\/p>\n

\n\tMayilaa<\/a>, a drama directed by Semmalar Annam, won the Jury Award for Best Feature Narrative. The film starring P. Melody Dorcas, Geetha Kailasam, Shudar Kodi, and Sathya Maruthani tells a mother-daughter tale of \u201ca novice saleswoman [who] travels South India to meet financial needs, despite having no sales experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMayilaa has also screened at Dharamshala International Film Festival in northern India, the Singapore International Film Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony<\/a>\u2018<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Akelo Media<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony, directed by Habiba Nosheen, won the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary. The film centers on young women pursuing gymnastics in an area of Pakistan where such an athletic activity is uncommon for girls. As Deadline reported earlier this month<\/a>, the documentary is executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, Trish Adlesic, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. Hargitay noted, \u201cWhen we first learned about these young girls and their lives from director Habiba Nosheen, my producing partner, Trish Adlesic, and I knew we wanted to help ensure that their story would reach audiences around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAutumn Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Jury Award for Best Short went to The Last Glance, directed by Kamran Faiq and starring Adnan Shah Tipu and Areej Ayub Hussain.<\/p>\n

\n\tTasveer, which ran from October 13\u201318, showcased 136 films from 16 countries across more than 25 languages, including 20 World Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, and 4 U.S. Premieres. The festival notes, \u201cThe 2026 program included powerful storytelling by female directors, groundbreaking animation, an impressive slate of sports-centric cinema, and one of the festival\u2019s strongest LGBTQ+ lineups to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEach film in this year\u2019s lineup came to us carrying someone\u2019s whole world,\u201d noted Tasveer Executive Director Rita Meher. \u201cOur role is to welcome it home, with a stage, a room full of industry, and real opportunities to go further. Watching filmmakers meet their audience and the people who can champion their work is exactly why we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJuried award winners were selected by a panel including Jury Lead Aparna Purohit (CEO of Aamir Khan Productions); James Longley (two-time Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker); Nekisa Cooper (former Head of Content at MasterClass, and president of the board of directors at Chicken & Egg Films), and Warren Etheredge (producer, film educator at the University of Washington, and co-founder of the Walla Walla Movie Crush).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSome stories move us through their intimacy; others through their reflection of the world around us,\u201d commented Jury Lead Aparna Purohit. \u201cThe films we considered at Tasveer did both, confronting the socio-political realities of our time with courage, sensitivity and remarkable cinematic vision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs Head of the Jury, it was a privilege and responsibility to engage with such a rich range of perspectives. I was deeply moved by the filmmakers\u2019 honesty, diversity and ambition, and grateful to my fellow jurors for the thoughtful, open conversations that shaped our deliberations. I am delighted that Tasveer continues to give South Asian stories a platform to cross borders and resonate with audiences and communities worldwide. This experience reaffirmed why cinema matters: it reflects our world, challenges our assumptions and brings us closer to lives beyond our own, fostering greater empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tasveer<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTasveer Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tThe third annual Tasveer Film Market, \u201cNorth America\u2019s only industry platform dedicated to South Asian and diasporic cinema,\u201d distributed $170,000 in awards across three competitive pitch events.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its seventh year, the Tasveer Film Fund awarded $35,000 each to four original short film projects:<\/p>\n

The Blue House \u2013 Red Reddy<\/p>\n

Friendforhire.com \u2013 Nishanth R<\/p>\n

Ghusl \u2013 Ambarien Alqadar<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood \u2013 Rahul Chaturvedi<\/p>\n

\n\tThe closing ceremony featured the announcement of the following award winners:<\/p>\n

\n\tJury Awards<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Short: The Last Glance<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Feature Narrative: Mayilaa<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Feature Documentary: The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony<\/p>\n

\n\tAudience Choice Awards<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Documentary Short: Salam Shalom<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Documentary Feature: 49-51<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Narrative Short: We Were Here<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Narrative Feature: Never Had a Chance<\/p>\n

\n\tChoice Awards<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Social Justice Film: Flowers of Acacia<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Animation: The Hidden Side of the Moon<\/p>\n

\n\tBest LGBTQIA+: Aman<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Editing: Upon Starvation<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Director (Priyankar Patra): Early Days<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Actor (Male) (Chiranjit Biswas): Delupi Best Actor (Female) (Mahek): Mother Tongue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasveer Film Festival in Seattle has wrapped its 21st edition with the announcement of awards in multiple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,311733,409,111,139,69,311734,311735],"class_list":["post-635949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-mayilaa","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tasveer-film-festival","tag-the-gymnasts-of-fisherman-colony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}