Cannes: In a major triumph for India at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, Chidananda S Naik's Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know... has won the first prize of La Cinef here.

The Mysuru doctor-turned filmmaker made the film at the end of his one-year course in the television wing of Pune's Film and Television Institute of India.

Sunflowers... is based on Kannada folk tale about an old woman who steals a rooster. As a result of her action, the sun stops rising in the village.

The third prize of the La Cinef competition on Thursday went to India-born Mansi Maheshwari's animation film Bunnyhood.

Maheshwari, born in from Meerut and an ex-student of NIFT Delhi, made the film as a student of UK's National Film and Television School.

The second prize was shared by Out of the Widow Through the Wall, directed by Columbia University's Asya Segalovich, and 'The Chaos She Left Behind'. made by Nikos Kolioukos of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Cannes Film Festival awards a 15000 Euro grant for the first prize winner, 11,250 euros for second prize and 7,500 euros for the third prize.

The awarded films will be screened at the Cinema du Pantheon on June 3 and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on June 4.

The first prize for Naik is India's second in five years. In 2020, Ashmita Guha Neogi, also from FTII, won the award for her film CatDog.

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New Delhi (PTI): A 32-year-old barber was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly beating a man to death following an altercation over a 'bidi' in east Delhi's Pandav Nagar area, police said.

A call regarding the incident that occurred near the bus stand road in Shashi Garden was received at 1.24 am, they said.

The victim was identified as Deepak (28), while the accused was Manoj, he added.

According to the police, during an argument, the accused picked up a wooden stick lying nearby and struck the victim repeatedly on the head. Multiple injuries and bruise marks were also found on the victim's forehead.

"Deepak was taken to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead," an officer said.

An FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway, the officer added.