Berlin: Tamil film Paruthiveeran, by Ameer Sulthan, was honoured with a "special mention" from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the 58th Berlin International film festival.

The film festival concluded here last night. The 2007 Tamil box-office hit evoked a very enthusiastic response from German and European film enthusiasts when it was shown in the International Forum of Young Cinema, the section focusing on young, experimental and avant garde films from around the world.

The film's international premiere at the Berlinale was attended by Ameer Sulthan together with Tamil cinema's new discovery Karthi, whose debut performance in the film earned him wide acclaim at home and abroad.

The three-member NETPAC jury, which included Indian film critic Meenakshi Shedde, gave the organisation's main prize to "United Army" by Japanese director Wakamatsu Koji.

The film paints a critical yet emphatic picture of the militant student movement of the 1960s that spawned one of the most violent terrorist groups ever.

It also received the prize of International Confederation of Art film Theatres (CIAE).

This year's prizes of the International Confederation of Film Journalists went to the Mexican entry "Lake Tahoe" by Fernando Eimbcke, Israeli film "Shahida-Brides of Allah" by Natalie Assouline which was shown in the Forum programme and "Rusalka" (Mermaid) by Anna Melikian, a Russian entry in the Panorama section.
Source : PTI