Epic and intimate, 'Against The Tide' is transportive cinema, on the ground and under the sea. It’s a remarkable achievement, the director is in complete control over every aspect of the medium, plunging us into the elements while never losing sight of its deeply human core. Extraordinary cinematography, great humanity, humour and a wonderful way of seeing.

A deeply empathetic portrait of migrant lives, 'Bahadur' has a beautiful narrative rhythm and clarity of character, with great performances showing the strength of a director able to get a range of emotions from compelling non-actors.

A clear and audacious directorial signature, 'Agra' is unflinching and confident in its exploration of aspirational India.

For uniquely extending this spirit through exemplary innovation of cinematic form, the Rashid Irani Young Critics Choice is awarded to 'Kayo Kayo Colour? (Which Colour?)’.

Like birdsong at daybreak, hope rises from even the darkest nook of this city. Telling us it will get better. That there is joy to be found in what to the naked eye looks like scrap. From the first shot itself, this film evokes a sense of flight, of ascension. Each well-crafted frame and the easy natural performances feed this narrative with beautiful aesthetics, never losing its grip on what the filmmaker is trying to say. Joyous, confident, beautiful, satisfying. This gem of a film is all this and more. In five minutes this young filmmaker has given us hope. With such an easy display of heft and skill. So, of course, The Dimensions Mumbai Gold Award goes to ‘Nightingales In The Cocoon’ by Praveen Giri.

Dimensions Mumbai Silver Award goes to ‘Halfway’ by Kumar Chheda, for its simplicity, the use of the metaphor of meeting halfway in relationships, the writing that brought out nuances of partnerships, the technical execution of the film, the natural performances with the backdrop of a quintessential part of Bombay - the sea and Juhu beach - reminding us that it's a city that allows everyone to exist, without any judgement or differentiation.

The Best Film goes to ‘Summer of Soul’ directed by Sanjib Gogoi for being a moody portrait of sensitivity through strife and for its poetry without frills. A story that reinstates the fact that a bird put in a cage still doesn’t forget flight.

The Best Actor goes to James Elia as Shankar Pillai in Vakuppu for gliding through his performance as an authority figure, a wounded father, and a man weathered by time - all at the same time and all the time.

Leesa Gazi's ‘Barir Naam Shahana’ for its evocative tale of an ambitious young woman rising like a phoenix against the oppression of religious dogma, structural patriarchy and familial trauma. The film, within its demoralising universe amidst effective use of temporal space, populates the story with several positive, sprightly characters and manages to carve a moment of liberation for its protagonist Dipa in the form of a house she builds on her own for herself.

The NETPAC Award goes to 'Rimdogittanga (Rapture)' for delicately combining the natural and supernatural worlds inhabited by a community and for evoking the mysterious challenges it must overcome both in itself and beyond.

A biting indictment of the apathy of contemporary India, ‘Blackhole’ is elevated by Pradyumna Patil's eye for detail and economy. Without a single line of dialogue, the filmmaker conveys the complicity of urban Indians in endorsing the cycle of caste hegemony and the helplessness of the oppressed waging a losing battle. The film's commitment to contend with the stark realities of urban society is remarkable evidence of a filmmaker who has something to say and knows how to say it without resorting to empty platitudes.

A keenly observed, unsparing record of the hypocrisy of casteism in modern society, ‘Praan Prathishthana’ signals a triumph of the kind of filmmaking that doesn’t need to reduce storytelling to a message for it to have purpose. It's often easy for debut filmmakers to embellish their films with every narrative and stylistic flourish lodged inside their minds. But Pankaj Sonawane does something completely opposite: he chooses to pare down his film to an extent that it is impossible to look away from the hold of social hierarchies that invisiblises the fundamental ask for the dignity of life.

A film of immense intelligence and humanity, ‘Flowering Man ‘sees Soumyajit Ghosh Dastidar offer a radical plea for acceptance that invites the viewer's curiosity and ultimately earns it with ample grace. Infused with both beauty and poetry, every frame of the film is loaded with meaning and nuance, complementing its maker's light touch of hand. To see ‘Flowering Man’ is to see a storyteller's conviction in his own voice.