'Kabul Express' wins accolades at Singapore film festival

Mumbai, Dec 6 (UNI) Kabir Khan was awarded the best director for his directorial debut ''Kabul Express'' at the third Asian Festival of First films (AFFF) in Singapore early this week.

Additionally, ''Kabul Express'' was also awarded the Foreign Correspondents Association Purple Orchid Award, which is the critics' choice award for ''Best Film'', voted in by the media from 33 countries, a press release issued here today said.

The 3rd Asian Festival of 1st Films (AFFF) was held in Singapore from November 27 to December 4, 2007. A selection committee comprising of Carol Haslam (UK), Gordon Chan (HK), Peggy Chiao (Taiwan) and Uma da Cunha (India) met in Singapore and viewed the eligible films for over 6 days and nominated 11 features and 10 documentaries across nine award categories. An additional 4 features and 4 documentaries were selected in the non-competitive category.

The only festival of its kind in the world, AFFF celebrates the excellence of first-time producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, actors and documentary makers from the Asia Pacific diaspora, with the winning selections awarded by an international celebrity jury and selection committee. Past winning films have also been screened and won awards at the likes of Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and other noted Film Festivals around the world.

'Kabul Express' was released in India on December 2006. It details the story of Indian journalists who are forced into an incident-filled road trip across the country by a Pakistani member of the Taliban. Accompanying them are an American photo-journalist and their Afghan guide. As the road twists and turns, so does the story as the five diverse passengers of the jeep ''Kabul Express'' understand their commonalities in a country beset by differences.

The film stars John Abraham and Arshad Warsi with American actress Linda Arsenio, Pakistani actor Salman Shahid and Afghan actor Hanif Hum Ghum. The film is directed by Kabir Khan and was based on the director's own experiences shooting documentary films in post Taliban Afghanistan.

UNI