IMAGE: Chidanand S Naik on the sets of Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chidanand S Naik/Instagram
Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know, an award-winning Kannada short film by Film and Television Institute of India students, has qualified for the 2025 Oscars in the live action short film category, the FTII said on Monday.
In May, Sunflowers earned the first prize under the La Cinef section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, dedicated to showcasing film school fiction or animated films.
The short is directed by Chidanand S Naik and has cinematography by Suraj Thakur, editing by Manoj V and sound by Abhishek Kadam. It was produced by FTII as part of the students’ final-year exercise.
IMAGE: The team wins the top prize at the 27th edition La Cinef segment in Cannes. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chidanand S Naik/Instagram
‘I have aspired to tell this story for as long as I can remember. Our goal was to recreate the experience of not merely hearing these stories but of genuinely living them; an experience I hope resonates with audiences around the globe,’ Naik said in a statement.
Based on a Kannada folk tale, Sunflowers presents the story of an elderly woman who steals the village’s rooster that throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady’s family into exile.
