Natesh Hegde wins Roberto Rossellini Award for Best Director for Pedro at Pingyao Intl Film Fest

When young filmmaker Natesh Hegde took his Kannada film Pedro for its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month, it was a moment of immense pride for Kannadigas and everyone who appreciates good cinema. But in an even bigger achievement, Natesh has been bestowed with the Roberto Rossellini Award for Best Director for Pedro at the Pingyao International Film Festival Awards. The film was up against other fabulous films like Feathers and Noche De Fuego.

Taking to social media to announce his win, Natesh wrote, “Great news! It's an honour to announce that I won best director award at 平遥国际电影展 Pingyao international film festival given in the name of great Roberto Rossellini. Thank you eminent jury panel Bi Gan(kaili blues), Li Dongmei(Mama), Liu Xiaodong, Ning Ying, Anaïs Liu. Marco Müller Deepti DCunha I can't thank enough for your support. I thank my producer Rishab Shetty for standing with me. Raj B Shetty for his unconditional love. Thank you M S Prakash Babu for believing in me from the beginning. Vikas Urs Shreyank Nanjappa and my whole team you deserve this accolade. I dedicate this award to my father and actor Gopal Hegde and my mother Sujata for everything.”

Since the news broke, Natesh has been flooded with congratulatory messages, including from Rishab and Raj, both of who said they were immensely proud of his achievement. Natesh will receive US$10,000 for use in the development of his next film, as part of the award.

Since the film’s premiere at Busan, Natesh has become a global media darling, and if the reviews are anything to go by, international publications have really taken a fancy to Pedro. This, one would think, boils down to the filmmaker’s style of making cinema, which he had explained to OTTplay earlier, “If you have an idea of how to express yourself on a particular medium, learning the technical aspects becomes secondary and easier to pick up. As a filmmaker, I am not interested in beautifying my frame or making a visually-pleasing film. It’s not even about capturing everything as realistic as possible; cinema should have flaws; just as human beings have.”