National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film
# National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film

The National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards presented for Non feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).

The award was instituted in 1985, at 33rd National Film Awards and awarded annually for films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages.

## Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus) and cash prize. Following are the award winners over the years:

List of films, showing the year, language(s), producer(s), director(s) and citation :

| Year | Film(s) | Language(s) | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Citation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1985 (33rd) | Warli Painting | English | B. R. Shendge | V. K. Wankhede | For a perceptive exploration of the relationship between the life and art of the warli tribals. |
| 1986 (34th) | Our Islamic Heritage: Part II | English | K. K. Garg for Films Division | K. K. Garg | For its well researched treatment and the artistry and imagination employed in bringing an aspect of our great heritage into focus. |
| 1986 (34th) | Classical Dance Forms of India: Koodiattam | English | Doordarshan | Prakash Jha | For its excellent visual treatment of a great traditional theatre form. |
| 1987 (35th) | The Kingdom of God | English | Shilpabharati Publicity | Ranabir Ray | For treating its subject with careful cinematic detail and with a deep sincerity towards the very rich folk painting scene in rural India. |
| 1988 (36th) | Scroll Painters of Birbhum (Patua) | English | • Dilip Ghosh • Biswanath Bose | Raja Mitra | For portraying with sensitivity and insight the vanishing tribe of the Muslim scroll painters whose essentially secular art harmonises painting and singing. |
| 1989 (37th) | Siddheshwari | Hindi | Mani Kaul | Mani Kaul | For its innovative and stylised interpretation of a singer's work and her milieu. |
| 1990 (38th) | Figures of Thought | English | Arun Khopkar | Arun Khopkar | For exceptionally beautiful portrayal of the work of three painters, with verve, and unpretentious, but excellent visuals. |
| 1990 (38th) | Vaastu Marabu | English | Min Bimbangal | Bala Kailasam | For portraying the philosophy of traditional "Shilpi", transcending the physical form of the sculpture, exploring the collective unconscious of Indian sculptors. |
| 1991 (39th) | Sanchari | English | Arun Khopkar | Arun Khopkar | For memorable presentation of form and content of the Bharatnatyam dance through the exposition of Leela Samson's art, brilliantly synthesising dance and cinematographic language. |
| 1992 (40th) | The Recluse | Hindi | Arvind Sinha | Arvind Sinha | For a fine and moving tribute to one of the great living master of Dhrupad, Ustad Amiruddin Dagar. |
| 1992 (40th) | Suchitra Mitra | Bengali | Sailen Seth | Raja Sen | For a cinematic tribute to the greatest living exponent of Rabindra Sangeet. |
| 1993 (41st) | Anukampan | Hindi | Balaka Ghosh | Balaka Ghosh | For focussing attention on a unique intermingling of classical and folk dance traditions which is in danger of extinction through an appealing film form. |
| 1994 (42nd) | Painting in Time | English | Topshots | Sarbajit Sen | For using play of light to enter the surface of a culture, unobtrusively, allowing it to reveal its magical metaphysics. |
| 1995 (43rd) | Pakarnnattam Ammannur The Actor | Malayalam | P. G. Mohan | • M. R. Rajan • C. S. Venkiteswaran | For recording sensitively the ancient theatre form of Koodiyattam as interpreted by the legendary Koodiyattam actor Ammannur Madhava Chakyar. |
| 1996 (44th) | Nauka Charitramu | English | Saroj Satyanarayan | Saroj Satyanarayan | For its innovative cinematic portrayal of three women musicians of Carnatic tradition. |
| 1997 (45th) | The Official Art Form | English | National Gallery of Modern Art | • Suhasini Mulay • R. M. Gharekhan | For an important documentation of a vital transitional period of our cultural heritage. |
| 1998 (46th) | A Painter of Eloquent Silence: Ganesh Pyne | English | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | Buddhadeb Dasgupta | For a moving tribute from one artist to another and an appreciation of a painter's hidden expression. |
| 1999 (47th) | "Thang Ta"- The Martial Art of Manipur | English | Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts | Aribam Syam Sharma | For its passionate cinematic expression of a traditional martial art of Manipur. |
| 2000 (48th) | Tribal Women Artists | Hindi | Kuldeep Sinha for Films Division | Brij Bhushan for Films Division | For highlighting the creative abilities of the tribal women of Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) in an effective manner. |
| 2001 (49th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2002 (50th) | The Eye of the Fish: The Kalaries of Kerala | English | Films Division | Priya Krishnaswamy | For the rich visual texture of the film on Kalarippayuttu with its simple and effective story telling powerfully counterpoints its message of the need to reject violence and war and develop a focused mind as a potent tool of self realisation. |
| 2003 (51st) | Picasso Metamorphoses | English | Y. N. Engineer for Films Division | Nandkumar Sadamate | For its rare attempt at interpreting the works of the legendary painter making him accessible even to those uninitiated to his art. The film examines the troubled times that Picasso lived in, his ideals, his relationships and the inevitable symbiosis of his life and work. |
| 2004 (52nd) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2005 (53rd) | Naina Jogin | • Hindi • Maithili | Praveen Kumar | Praveen Kumar | For a seamless film aesthetically blending fact, fiction and reconstruction with perceptive interviews bringing out the life of the Madhubani painters of Bihar. |
| 2006 (54th) | Jatra Jeevan Jeevan Jatra | English | Kailash Bhuyan | Kapilas Bhuyan | For creatively presenting the transformation of Oriya Jatra from a folk form to a highly commercialised and mainstream form. |
| 2007 (55th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2008 (56th) | Karna Motcham | Tamil | MGR Film and TV Institute | S. Murali Manohar | For using powerful imagery and ironical juxtaposition, the film depicts the life of a Koothu artist. With subtlety, it captures the frustration and the hopelessness of a performer whose art is a misfit in a changing cultural world. |
| 2009 (57th) | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award | No Award |
| 2010 (58th) | Leaving Home | Hindi | Jaideep Varma | Jaideep Varma | For an emotive and enthralling exposition of the passion and dedication of a group, bound by the spirit of music, who transcend the commercial boundary to embrace their original creative flair. Without compromising, the group led to the adventure with courage and guts. The film maker has journeyed through this adventure with dramatic sensibility and compassion. |
| 2011 (59th) | Fried Fish, Chicken Soup and a Premiere Show | • Manipuri • English | Madhusree Dutta | Mamta Murthy | For taking us on a journey that chronicles the struggle to produce films in strife torn Manipur and in the process painting a vivid canvas, which captures cinema in the state as a medium of popular culture. |
| 2011 (59th) | Lasya Kavvya: The World of Alarmel Valli | English | Sankalp Meshram | Sankalp Meshram | For aesthetic delineation of Bharatnatyam through the dance, performances and personal interpretation by one of the greatest living exponents of this classical art form. |
| 2012 (60th) | Modikhanyachya Don Goshti | Marathi | Gouri Patwardhan | Gouri Patwardhan | For a nuanced depiction of the art, life and socio-historical context of two artists, father and daughter who negotiate their Dalit identity in very different ways through their work. |
| 2013 (61st) | The Lost Behrupiya | English | Holybull Entertainment LLP | Sriram Dalton | For a near surreal depiction of a dying art form in a globalised society. The film combines elements of drama and visual art with a lament for a rich cultural tradition |
| 2013 (61st) | O Friend, This Waiting ! | • Telugu • English | Justin Mccarthy | Sandhya Kumar | For its wholly unconventional investigation of the Devadasi tradition in South India, combining an appreciation of this delicate and sensuous art form with a genuine sociological exploration. |
| 2014 (62nd) | Kapila | | Films Division | Sanju Surendran | For its unique and expressive rendering of Kapila's sheer artistry over Kudiyattam, the world's oldest theatrical art form. |
| 2015 (63rd) | A Far Afternoon: A Painted Saga | • Hindi • English | Piramal Art Foundation | Sruti Harihara Subramanian | For breathing life into the canvas to articulate and assimilate. |
| 2015 (63rd) | Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy: Music Beyond Boundaries | Tamil | Siddhartha Productions | Amshan Kumar | For its unique and expressive rendering of Kapila's sheer artistry over Kudiyattam, the world's oldest theatrical art form. |
| 2016 (64th) | In the Shadow of Time | English | Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts | Shankhajeet Dey | In the era of animation, an important film that documents a dying art-form which is haunting, touching and kept alive through the sheer will of a community of poor puppeteers. |
| 2016 (64th) | The Lord of the Universe | English | Shibu Prusty | Shibu Prusty | This enlightening and informative film brings alive an amazing and complex ritual and takes us into the only place in the world where God comes alive as a human being. |
| 2017 (65th) | Girija | | • Madhu Chandra • Sudha Datta | • Debapriya Adhikary • Samanwaya Sarkar | A reasoning reverence to Vidushi Girija Devi through her musical journey of more than six decades, highlighting her ability to caress each note and make every word exquisite. |
| 2018 (66th) | Bunkar: The Last of The Varanasi Weavers | | • Narrative Pictures • Sapna Sharma | Satyaprakash Upadhyay | For its rich, textured tapestry of the history, life, craft and art of the traditional Varanasi weaver, and their cultured dignity in the face of numerous challenges. |
