Oscars 2025: Kannada Short Film Sunflowers Were the First Ones To Know Qualifies For Academy Awards

"Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know", an award-winning short film by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students, has qualified for the 2025 Oscars in the live action short film category, the Pune-based school said on Monday. In May, "Sunflowers..." earned the first prize under the La Cinef section at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The short is directed by Chidanand S Naik and has cinematography by Suraj Thakur, editing by Manoj V and sound by Abhishek Kadam. It was produced by FTII as part of the students' final-year exercise, according to a release issued by the Press Information Bureau. "I have aspired to tell this story for as long as I can remember. Our goal was to recreate the experience of not merely hearing these stories but of genuinely living them—an experience I hope resonates with audiences around the globe," Naik said in a statement.

Based on a Kannada folk tale, "Sunflowers..." presents the story of an elderly woman who steals the village's rooster that throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady's family into exile, read the official plotline. At Cannes 2024, the film won the top prize at the 27th edition La Cinef segment, dedicated to showcasing film school fiction or animated films.