Arun Kumar

Washington, Nov 6 (IANS): Aparna Sen's Bengali film, "The Japanese Wife", has won the best film award at the recently-concluded Hidden Gems Film Festival in Calgary, Canada.

The film, distributed in North America by Databazaar Media Ventures (DMV), was awarded the stunning Amolite Trophy which is the official gemstone of the Province of Alberta.

The story of the film in English, Bengali and Japanese revolves around a young village school teacher (Rahul Bose) marrying his Japanese pen friend (Chigusa Takaku) over letters and remaining true and loyal to her throughout his life, while actually never meeting her.

"We knew that the film would do well at the festival, but it was beyond our comprehension that 92 percent would vote in favour of this film," stated DMV chairman Oney Seal.

The Hidden Gems Festival normally has a distinguished jury which selects the movie. This year the audience was asked to vote.

Festival Director Niru Bhatia hailed the film as a "love poem on celluloid". "Taj Mahal is known as the love poem in marbles, if you want to see a love poem on celluloid, see Aparna Sen's 'The Japanese Wife'," she added.

"We are very proud to be a part of 'The Japanese Wife'. Aparna Sen is one of India's most talented directors and most deserving of the Amolite Trophy," said Apurv Nagpal of Sa Re Ga Ma Films, producers of this film.

DMV acts as an exclusive gateway for Bengali films to North America, combining the latest in digital technologies with the best in traditional methods in a new, fusion distribution model that will maximise North American film revenues.