Mumbai: That brilliant little film on child literacy I Am Kalam by first-time director Nila Madhab Panda has triumphed at the Silent River Film Festival (SRFF) in California. The quiet achiever of a film walked away with 3 major awards for Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Child Actor (Harsh Mayar, who earlier won the National award for best child actor).

Lamentably no member of the film’s core creative-crew was present the Festival in California when the triple triumph was announced on Saturday evening.

Apparently the film’s producers couldn’t afford to be at the venue of such a prestigious festival.

Director Nila Madhab Panda says, “I only got to to know about our film’s hat-trick of triumphs at the Silent River festival when the Festival’s director Kalpana Singh-Chitnis called up to tell me about it. It’s sad I couldn’t be there. But the film has already been to 50 festivals and won 14 international awards.”

The Silent Film Festival at Irvine, California celebrates and honors independent cinema.

Panda sees the film’s latest triumph at the Silent Film festival as a victory for independent cinema. “No one thought it was possible for  me to see I Am Kalam to completion. I had to sell our home to make the film. It was traumatic for my family. But finally it was worth it. Because it proves independent cinema has a future. In fact, independent cinema IS the future.”