Raam Reddy’s debut Thithi has won two awards at the Locarno International Film Festival. The Kannada movie, which was competing in the section titled Concorso Cineasti del Presente, or "Filmmakers of the present" at the 69 year-old festival in Switzerland. It was awarded the top prize in this category, which recognises debut and second features. Tithi also won the Swatch Award, which is awarded to the Best First Feature and decided by a separate jury.Reddy’s comedy, co-written by Ere Gowda and featuring mostly non-professional actors, is about three generations of a family in rural Karnataka that congregates for the cremation rites of their patriarch.“The narrative of Thithi is a manifestation of my own restlessness, and my constant search for connectivity in a disconnected world,” the 25-year-old filmmaker said at Locarno. “And there is no need to have a great significance in it, but rather a playfulness which is more meaningful than all things serious.”The festival’s top honour, the Golden Leopard, was bagged by Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo for his tragicomic Right Now, Wrong Then.Reddy, an Economics graduate of St Stephen’s College in Delhi, studied direction at the Prague Film School. He has previously directed the short film Ika , and has also written the self-published novel It’s Raining in Maya.Thithi’s victory is the latest piece of good news for independent Indian filmmakers. It follows the two awards given to Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Last year, Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court scooped up awards at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival, leading to a long international tour. Both Court and Masaan were subsequently released in India to widespread acclaim.