After Toronto, Busan, Estonia and Cannes, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures’ upcoming film Margarita With A Straw was also showcased at the Vesoul Film Festival in France recently. The critically acclaimed film won the Audience Award and the Youth Jury Award, a jury composed of 20 teenagers. After impressing audiences across the globe at prestigious film festivals, this heartwarming story once again proved its worth at Vesoul. Kalki Koechlin as ‘Laila’, a determined girl with cerebral palsy, has won the hearts of the French audience too.
Present at the event was director Shonali Bose who was elated to have received such recognition for the film. Speaking about the achievement she said, “These are by far my two favorite awards to date as I make films for audiences and not critics or festivals. And to get a unanimous vote from 20 teenagers – that too French – even my hard to impress teenage son Vivan was impressed!!”
The film has already been showcased at the 19th Busan International Film Festival, 39th Toronto International Film Festival, 2014, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (TBNFF) in Estonia and the Cannes Film Festival amongst others. It addresses cerebral palsy, death and sexuality, without superficiality, and while many films may exploit these topics, this movie offers a fresh and much needed take on the whole issue.
Produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Jakhotia Group, Ishan Talkies and ADAPT, and directed by the acclaimed Shonali Bose the film’s star cast includes veteran star Revathy, Hollywood actor William Moseley (lead of the Narnia Chronicles) and the talented new face Sayani Gupta in pivotal roles. The movie is slated to release on April 17, 2015.
