Israeli filmmaker Erez-Tadmor's Children of Nobody clinched the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film on the final day of the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Tuesday.

Drawing inspiration from a true story, the emotionally charged drama revolves around troubled boys uniting to safeguard a shelter for at-risk youth. Along with the best film award, the film also secured a cash prize worth Rs 51 lakh – the highest bestowed by any film festival worldwide— at the closing ceremony of KIFF at Rabindra Sadan.

Venezuela’s Carlos Daniel Malave took home the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director at the festival for his film One Way. Malave, too, received a cash prize worth Rs 21 lakh.

The star-studded closing ceremony, presided over by KIFF chairman, witnessed a star-studded lineup that included Sudhir Mishra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Mamata Shankar, Dhritiman Chaterji and Chapal Bhadhuri. While Nusrat Jahan paid tribute to Suchitra Sen, Koushani Mukherjee performed to the KIFF theme song by Arijit Singh at the event.

The festival's Special Jury Award for International Competition: Innovation in Moving Images was presented to Anjan Dutt for his film Chalchitra Ekhon, a tribute to the late Mrinal Sen.

For the first time, the Bengali Panorama section was competitive at KIFF, with director duo Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti receiving the award for Best Film for Mon Potongo. The cash prize accompanying the trophy amounted to Rs 7.5 lakh. The duo had recently claimed the Best Bengali Film at the National Awards for their film Kalkokkho.

In the Asian Select section, the NETPAC Award for Best Film was granted to Ninefold Mosaic's Broken Dreams Stories from the Myanmar Coup. Comprising nine short films by eight exiled Myanmar filmmakers, the omnibus film captures the varied perspectives of ordinary citizens amid extraordinary events.