National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film

National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film
National award for contributions to short film
Sponsored by	Directorate of Film Festivals
Reward(s)	Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) ₹50,000 (US$630)
First awarded	1985
Last awarded	2018
Most recent winner	Bunkar: The Last of The Varanasi Weavers
Highlights
Total awarded	37
First winner	Warli Painting

The National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards presented for Non feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1985, at 33rd National Film Awards and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages.

Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:

List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s), director(s) and citation
Year	Film(s)	Language(s)	Producer(s)	Director(s)	Citation	Refs.
1985 (33rd)	Warli Painting	English	B. R. Shendge	V. K. Wankhede	For a perceptive exploration of the relationship between the life and art of the warli tribals.	[1]
1986 (34th)	Our Islamic Heritage: Part II	English	K. K. Garg for Films Division	K. K. Garg	For its well researched treatment and the artistry and imagination employed in bringing an aspect of our great heritage into focus.	[2]
	Classical Dance Forms of India: Koodiattam	English	Doordarshan	Prakash Jha	For its excellent visual treatment of a great traditional theatre form.
1987 (35th)	The Kingdom of God	English	Shilpabharati Publicity	Ranabir Ray	For treating its subject with careful cinematic detail and with a deep sincerity towards the very rich folk painting scene in rural India.	[3]
1988 (36th)	Scroll Painters of Birbhum (Patua)	English	•Dilip Ghosh  •Biswanath Bose	Raja Mitra	For portraying with sensitivity and insight the vanishing tribe of the Muslim scroll painters whose essentially secular art harmonises painting and singing.	[4]
1989 (37th)	Siddheshwari	Hindi	Mani Kaul	Mani Kaul	For its innovative and stylised interpretation of a singer's work and her milieu.	[5]
1990 (38th)	Figures of Thought	English	Arun Khopkar	Arun Khopkar	For exceptionally beautiful portrayal of the work of three painters, with verve, and unpretentious, but excellent visuals.	[6]
	Vaastu Marabu	English	Min Bimbangal	Bala Kailasam	For portraying the philosophy of traditional "Shilpi", transcending the physical form of the sculpture, exploring the collective unconscious of Indian sculptors.
1991 (39th)	Sanchari	English	Arun Khopkar	Arun Khopkar	For memorable presentation of form and content of the Bharatnatyam dance through the exposition of Leela Samson's art, brilliantly synthesising dance and cinematographic language.	[7]
1992 (40th)	The Recluse	Hindi	Arvind Sinha	Arvind Sinha	For a fine and moving tribute to one of the great living master of Dhrupad, Ustad Amiruddin Dagar.	[8]
	Suchitra Mitra	Bengali	Sailen Seth	Raja Sen	For a cinematic tribute to the greatest living exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.
1993 (41st)	Anukampan	Hindi	Balaka Ghosh	Balaka Ghosh	For focussing attention on a unique intermingling of classical and folk dance traditions which is in danger of extinction through an appealing film form.	[9]
1994 (42nd)	Painting in Time	English	Topshots	Sarbajit Sen	For using play of light to enter the surface of a culture, unobtrusively, allowing it to reveal its magical metaphysics.	[10]
1995 (43rd)	Pakarnnattam Ammannur The Actor	Malayalam	P. G. Mohan	•M. R. Rajan  • C. S. Venkiteswaran	For recording sensitively the ancient theatre form of Koodiyattam as interpreted by the legendary Koodiyattam actor Ammannur Madhava Chakyar.	[11]
1996 (44th)	Nauka Charitramu	English	Saroj Satyanarayan	Saroj Satyanarayan	For its innovative cinematic portrayal of three women musicians of Carnatic tradition.	[12]
1997 (45th)	The Official Art Form	English	National Gallery of Modern Art	• Suhasini Mulay  •R. M. Gharekhan	For an important documentation of a vital transitional period of our cultural heritage.	[13]
1998 (46th)	A Painter of Eloquent Silence: Ganesh Pyne	English	Buddhadeb Dasgupta	Buddhadeb Dasgupta	For a moving tribute from one artist to another and an appreciation of a painter's hidden expression.	[14]
1999 (47th)	"Thang Ta"- The Martial Art of Manipur	English	Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts	Aribam Syam Sharma	For its passionate cinematic expression of a traditional martial art of Manipur.	[15]
2000 (48th)	Tribal Women Artists	Hindi	Kuldeep Sinha for Films Division	Brij Bhushan for Films Division	For highlighting the creative abilities of the tribal women of Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) in an effective manner.	[16]
2001 (49th)	No Award					[17]
2002 (50th)	The Eye of the Fish: The Kalaries of Kerala	English	Films Division	Priya Krishnaswamy	For the rich visual texture of the film on Kalarippayuttu with its simple and effective story telling powerfully counterpoints its message of the need to reject violence and war and develop a focused mind as a potent tool of self realisation.	[18]
2003 (51st)	Picasso Metamorphoses	English	Y. N. Engineer for Films Division	Nandkumar Sadamate	For its rare attempt at interpreting the works of the legendary painter making him accessible even to those uninitiated to his art. The film examines the troubled times that Picasso lived in, his ideals, his relationships and the inevitable symbiosis of his life and work.	[19]
2004 (52nd)	No Award					[20]
2005 (53rd)	Naina Jogin	•Hindi  • Maithili	Praveen Kumar	Praveen Kumar	For a seamless film aesthetically blending fact, fiction and reconstruction with perceptive interviews bringing out the life of the Madhubani painters of Bihar.	[21]
2006 (54th)	Jatra Jeevan Jeevan Jatra	English	Kailash Bhuyan	Kapilas Bhuyan	For creatively presenting the transformation of Oriya Jatra from a folk form to a highly commercialised and mainstream form.	[22]
2007 (55th)	No Award					[23]
2008 (56th)	Karna Motcham	Tamil	MGR Film and TV Institute	S. Murali Manohar	For using powerful imagery and ironical juxtaposition, the film depicts the life of a Koothu artist. With subtlety, it captures the frustration and the hopelessness of a performer whose art is a misfit in a changing cultural world.	[24]
2009 (57th)	No Award					[25]
2010 (58th)	Leaving Home	Hindi	Jaideep Varma	Jaideep Varma	For an emotive and enthralling exposition of the passion and dedication of a group, bound by the spirit of music, who transcend the commercial boundary to embrace their original creative flair. Without compromising, the group led to the adventure with courage and guts. The film maker has journeyed through this adventure with dramatic sensibility and compassion.	[26]
2011 (59th)	Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show	• Manipuri  •English	Madhusree Dutta	Mamta Murthy	For taking us on a journey that chronicles the struggle to produce films in strife torn Manipur and in the process painting a vivid canvas, which captures cinema in the state as a medium of popular culture.	[27]
	Lasya Kavvya: The World of Alarmel Valli	English	Sankalp Meshram	Sankalp Meshram	For aesthetic delineation of Bharatnatyam through the dance, performances and personal interpretation by one of the greatest living exponents of this classical art form.
2012 (60th)	Modikhanyachya Don Goshti	Marathi	Gouri Patwardhan	Gouri Patwardhan	For a nuanced depiction of the art, life and socio-historical context of two artists, father and daughter who negotiate their Dalit identity in very different ways through their work.	[28]
2013 (61st)	The Lost Behrupiya	English	Holybull Entertainment LLP	Sriram Dalton	For a near surreal depiction of a dying art form in a globalised society. The film combines elements of drama and visual art with a lament for a rich cultural tradition	[29]
	O Friend, This Waiting !	•Telugu  •English	Justin Mccarthy	Sandhya Kumar	For its wholly unconventional investigation of the Devadasi tradition in South India, combining an appreciation of this delicate and sensuous art form with a genuine sociological exploration.
2014 (62nd)	Kapila		Films Division	Sanju Surendran	For its unique and expressive rendering of Kapila's sheer artistry over Kudiyattam, the world's oldest theatrical art form.	[30]
2015 (63rd)	A Far Afternoon: A Painted Saga	•Hindi  •English	Piramal Art Foundation	Sruti Harihara Subramanian	For breathing life into the canvas to articulate and assimilate.	[31]
	Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy: Music Beyond Boundaries	Tamil	Siddhartha Productions	Amshan Kumar	For its unique and expressive rendering of Kapila's sheer artistry over Kudiyattam, the world's oldest theatrical art form.
2016 (64th)	In the Shadow of Time	English	Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts	Shankhajeet Dey	In the era of animation, an important film that documents a dying art-form which is haunting, touching and kept alive through the sheer will of a community of poor puppeteers.	[32]
	The Lord of the Universe	English	Shibu Prusty	Shibu Prusty	This enlightening and informative film brings alive an amazing and complex ritual and takes us into the only place in the world where God comes alive as a human being.
2017 (65th)	Girija		•Madhu Chandra  •Sudha Datta	•Debapriya Adhikary  •Samanwaya Sarkar	A reasoning reverence to Vidushi Girija Devi through her musical journey of more than six decades, highlighting her ability to caress each note and make every word exquisite.
2018 (66th)	Bunkar: The Last of The Varanasi Weavers		• Narrative Pictures  •Sapna Sharma	Satyaprakash Upadhyay	For its rich, textured tapestry of the history, life, craft and art of the traditional Varanasi weaver, and their cultured dignity in the face of numerous challenges.

References

1. "33rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
2. "34th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
3. "35th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
4. "36th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
5. "37th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
6. "38th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
7. "39th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
8. "40th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
9. "41st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
10. "42nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
11. "43rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
12. "44th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
13. "45th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
14. "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
15. "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
16. "48th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
17. "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
18. "50th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
19. "51st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
20. "52nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
21. "53rd National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
22. "54th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
23. "55th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
24. "56th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
25. "57th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
26. "58th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
27. "59th National Film Awards for the Year 2011 Announced". Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
28. "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
29. "61st National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
30. "62nd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
31. "63rd National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
32. "64th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.

External links

• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
• National Film Awards Archives