PANAJI, India — Veteran Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas was honored with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award on the 54th International Film Festival of India because it got here to an in depth on Tuesday.

The two-time Academy Award winner, 79, stated he was “humbled” and with the whole lot happening the world, the competition was “a reminder of the magic of moviemaking.”

“Cinema is one of the few mediums that has the power to unite and transform us. It transcends divisions, whether that be geography, race language and even time,” he stated in his acceptance speech.

“Today our global language of cinema is more meaningful than ever,” Douglas added.

“Endless Borders,” an Iranian movie directed by Abbas Amini, received the Golden Peacock for finest movie on the competition held yearly in coastal Goa, India’s scenic vacationer hotspot.

“The film is about how complicated physical borders might be yet nothing can be more complicated than the emotional and moral borders that you impose upon yourself,” the jury stated in its quotation.

The movie is about an exiled Iranian trainer in a poor village on the border of Afghanistan and Iran who turns into acquainted with a household fleeing Afghanistan beneath risk from the Taliban.

“In the context of what’s happening in the world right now, with the amazing conflicts that are going on, with the wars at our borders, it is very important to tell our stories,” stated Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, the chair of the worldwide jury who’s directed films together with “Elizabeth” and the current “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” “If we tell our stories to people and people listen to each other’s stories across borders, across everywhere, we understand each other.”

The different members of the worldwide jury have been Spanish cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, French producers Jérôme Paillard and Catherine Dussart and Australian producer Helen Leake.

As one of many oldest and most prolific movie industries on this planet, releasing about 1,500 films yearly, Indian movies get pleasure from a big home market.

Films in regional Indian languages, most of them rooted in native tradition, have additionally begun to discover a foothold on the worldwide stage. Earlier this yr, India celebrated two Academy Awards — the high-energy finest authentic tune “Naatu Naatu” from the blockbuster Telugu-language motion epic “RRR” and finest brief documentary “The Elephant Whisperers,” which streamed on Netflix.

The Indian authorities, which organizes the competition, has introduced a brand new incentive plan for international movie productions to spice up world collaborations.

Douglas stated Indian movies have been reaching a worldwide viewers because of the digital revolution and streaming providers.

“Whatever country you are in, good moviemaking is usually about something personal to your country, and then realizing that it has an international message. Everything is in the material and you have to make it for yourself,” he stated throughout a session earlier Tuesday.