seto-surya-trailerNepali feature film White Sun (Seto Surya) has won the New Voices/ New Visions Award at 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which was announced on January 14 at Hilton Palm Springs Hotel, California. White Sun beat nine other films to win the Voices/New Visions Award, one of the categories among nine categories of jury awards. In this category, 10 films were showcased from emerging international directors bringing their first or second narrative features, as per a press release issued by PSIFF on its website (psfilmfest.org) on January 14. Directed by Deepak Rauniyar, White Sun was selected by a jury of festival programmers and US distributors. Jonathan Howell (founder-director, Big World Pictures), Funa Maduka (Global Content Acquisition group, Netflix) and Jane Schoettle (International Programmer, TIFF) were the jury for this category. Actors Dayahang Rai, Asha Magarati and Rabindra Singh Baniya portrayed the lead characters in White Sun, which is a story of two brothers set in the aftermath of the decade-long civil war of Nepal. The jury issued the following statement, “White Sun, for its sympathetic but unsentimental portrayals of multiple perspectives, artfully integrating landscape as a participating character in the film. Featuring stunning performances from an ensemble cast, directed with sensitivity, the film’s storytelling leaves space for the audience to experience the tension between tradition and modernity. The film balances personal and political drama with a touch of absurdist humour.”