Film on Indian rural women awarded at Toronto festival

Toronto : London-based documentary maker Sandhya Suri's directorial "The Field" has won the ICW best international short film award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Shot in rural north India, the documentary highlights the tough life of rural farm woman Lalla (Mia Maelzer) and her longing for a different life.

Suri, whose 2005 documentary "I For India" won many awards, says she was inspired to do this documentary out of empathy because she saw the hardships of rural women while running the film unit at Oxfam.

Awarding the film on Sunday, the TIFF jury said: "It offers a unique and refreshing glimpses into female desire within rural India. It is aesthetically lyrical and features tender performances and has emotional impact which is far greater than its short format."

In her acceptance message, Suri said: "The film was thought in London, co-financed in France, shot in India and now getting awarded in one of the world's greatest film festivals and we are truly grateful for that."

She thanked TIFF for "acknowledging this story and giving us recognition."

Suri said this film was shot in almost 50 degrees in north India under tough shooting conditions.

Since most of its scenes depict the golden hour, the film was shot around dusk and dawn for five days as farm labourer Lalla gets ready to harvest the cornfield.