The film was selected by a jury led by noted Indian filmmaker Ashutosh Gowarikar from 15 films from around the world including three Indian films. The award carries a prize of ₹40 lakh.

The jury praised the film for its deep sensitivity and empathy, with its coming-of-age narrative set against a stark physical and social backdrop, said an official statement.

Toxic emerged as the best film, “for exploring adolescence and the harsh realities of growing up in an economically deprived society, with so much sensitivity and empathy and at the same time creating a coming-of-age narrative against a backdrop of the physical and social landscape”, it said.

The Best Actor (Female) award was jointly given to Vesta Matulytė and Ieva Rupeikaitė for their performance in the same film.

Bogdan Muresanu won the Best Director Award at IFFI 2024 for ‘New Year That Never Came’ about the revolution in 1989 in Romania.

As was previously announced, renowned Australian director Phillip Noyce was honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in cinema at the gala closing ceremony.

In his acceptance speech, the filmmaker acknowledged the immense influence of Indian cinema, noting that India is the world’s largest producer of feature films each year.

Reflecting on the future of cinema, Noyce shared his thoughts on the evolving nature of filmmaking. “We must once again turn to Satyajit Ray’s cinematic philosophy: Less is more. As technology evolves, so must we. Let movies become smaller and Ideas get bigger. That, I believe, is the future of cinema”, he said.

Swedish filmmaker Levan Akin’s CROSSING won the prestigious ICFT – UNESCO Gandhi Medal, which was described by the jury as “a stunning piece of cinema about love and understanding”.

Bandiwadekar won the Best Debut Director of an Indian Feature Film Award for his Marathi film ‘Gharat Ganpati’.

The eight-day festival came to a close in Goa on Thursday. IFFI 2024 presented over 180+ international films from 81 countries, including 15 world premieres, 3 international premieres, 40 Asian premieres and 106 Indian premiers.