Anasuya Sengupta creates history at Cannes, becomes 1st Indian to win Un Certain Regard best actress
Cannes, May 25: Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
Cannes, May 25 (PTI) Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
Cannes, May 25 (PTI) Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
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EU summit will focus on Iran war, loan to Ukraine blocked by Hungary
Brussels (AP): European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels on Thursday for talks on the Iran war, energy prices, migration and an enormous loan for war-ravaged Ukraine being held up by Hungary.
Many of those leaders have deflected entreaties by US President Donald Trump to send military assets to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the global flow of oil, gas and fertiliser.
Rising energy prices because of the war and fears in Europe of a new refugee crisis have pushed leaders to make the Middle East one of the top priorities at the summit.
The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, has floated the idea of a “toolbox” of measures to lower energy prices for leaders to discuss because no single policy will work across the myriad markets in the 27-nation bloc to blunt economic shocks from the war, according to a senior European diplomat who wasn't authorised to be publicly named so spoke on condition of anonymity.
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The summit will also focus on a long-brewing standoff between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and most other EU nations.
The last EU summit was held in December at a Belgian castle, where the leaders including Orban agreed to a 90 billion-euro (USD 104 billion) loan for Ukraine for help overcoming a budget shortfall in the country as it grapples with a grinding war with Russia.
But a month later, Orban backtracked after the Druzhba oil pipeline was disabled in January after what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian drone attack.
The pro-Russia leader, who has held office in Hungary since 2010, is running an aggressive media campaign villainising both Brussels and Kyiv as he seeks reelection next month.
“If there is no oil, there is no money,” Orban said in a social media post on Tuesday.
To get Ukraine the much-needed loan, EU leaders and diplomats will lobby Orban and Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, whose government has also taken pro-Russia stances.
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered for the EU to pay to repair the Druzhba pipeline and the development of alternative fuel lines for Hungary and Slovakia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that any obstruction to the loan is “absolutely unfair” and that there is “no alternative” for the embattled nation than those funds as it faces a severe budget crisis because of the war, which began on February 24, 2022.
“There may be alternatives in terms of financing mechanisms, but there is simply no alternative to strengthening our army,” Zelenksyy said on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday that the EU must swiftly reach an agreement on the 20th package of sanctions against Russia and the loan.
He said that he would “advocate for that emphatically” in Brussels and that “we must not take into consideration a single country in the European Union that is currently setting up this blockade in Europe now for domestic political reasons and because of an election campaign that is being conducted there.”
Merz said, in urging for more sanctions, that “the needs of the moment call for us to increase the pressure on Moscow together – the US and the European partners together."
