'Water' best international film at Bangkok festival

Canadian director Deepa Mehta's Water has won the international competition at the 2006 Bangkok Film Festival.

It came out ahead of 11 other international films in competition, including Transamerica, Brazil's House of Sand and Oscar-nominated South African film Tsotsi, to win the award for best international film.

Princess Ubol Ratana of Thailand presented the award to Mehta and producer David Hamilton at an awards ceremony on Friday in Bangkok at the end of the 10-day festival.

Water, a story about the plight of widows in an India being transformed by the ideas of Gandhi, has been nominated for nine Genie Awards.

It begins with eight-year-old Chuyia being sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, played by Lisa Ray, who falls for an idealistic young man, played by Bollywood star John Abraham. It is the third film in Mehta's trilogy, following Fire and Earth.

Other films in contention in the international competition were the U.K.'s Mrs. Henderson Presents, Germany's The White Masai and Italy's The Consequences of Love. A separate competition featured films from ASEAN countries.

Water, which screened at the opening galas at the Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Sudbury film festivals, has grossed $2.1 million at the Canadian box office since Nov. 4.

Filming, which initially began in India in 2000, had to shut down after Hindu fundamentalists smashed sets and threatened violence. It was shot later in Sri Lanka in Hindi with English subtitles.