Chandigarh, April 1 (IANS): 'Seven Winters in Tehran' directed by Steffi Niederzoll bagged the Cinevesture People's Choice Award for Best International Film, while ‘Jaggi’ directed by Anmol Sidhu was honoured as the Walkers People's Choice Award for the Best Indian Film. The awards in different categories were announced at the debut edition of the Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF) held in Chandigarh from March 27 to 31.

'Yellow' directed by Elham Ehsas won the Westside People's Choice Award for Best Short Film.

'Unveiled' by Ritisha Sinha, a student from Mount Carmel School in Sector 47B Chandigarh, received the award for best Students' Film.

Several directors and actors from the industry including Shekhar Kapur, Jaideep Ahlawat, Tahira Kashyap, Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal, Roshan Mathew, Abhay Deol, Sudhir Mishra, Suvinder Vicky, Boman Irani, Rasika Dugal, Rajshri Deshpande, Randeep Jha, Ajitpal Singh, Q and Anurag Singh were present at the festival on different days and held masterclasses and panel discussions.

The festival screened 25 award-winning international features in the World Cinema section, 16 indie gems in the India Unveiled and 30 shorts in Brief Encounters. There was also a curated section of children's films and timeless Classics.

The festival closed its panel discussions with a conversation between producer-director Karan Johar and film critic Namrata Joshi.

Also, 20 projects under CIFF Market Projects on the festival's sidelines, including three web series were presented with three debut projects being selected for the Mentorship Program.

Nina Lath, Founder & CEO of Cinevesture said, "We are overwhelmed by the support and trust this pilot edition of CIFF has received from the film community, the response and acceptance of Chandigarh’s residents. Our partners and collaborators have been extremely kind."

Adding that the inaugural edition was a resounding success, CIFF Director, V.S. Kundu said, "The masterclasses and panel discussions were lively and meaningful. The film market at CIFF built a solid foundation as an intimate yet professional networking and mentoring platform."

The festival advisory board includes Rana Daggubati, former Head of Cannes Film Market Jerome Paillard, former Co-Director of Sundance Film Festival Nicole Guillemet, filmmaker Ajitpal Singh (Fire in the Mountains and Tabbar), Bangladeshi filmmaker and screenwriter Nuhash Humayun (Moshari) and the co-owner of the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Julian Friedmann.