Rezwan Shahriar Sumit’s Master won the Best Feature Film award at the 22nd Lucca Film Festival in Tuscany, Italy.

Sharing the news on social media, Sumit described the recognition as an unexpected honour and said the award was a testament to the film’s “universality and urgency”.

The filmmaker also thanked the festival jury for recognising the work of the film’s cast and crew. The jury comprised Oscar-winning costume designer Franca Squarciapino, known for Cyrano de Bergerac, Lithuanian director and producer Šarūnas Bartas, and Italian actor, director and screenwriter Michele Riondino.

In its citation, the jury praised ‘Master’ for using what appears to be a local story to portray the crisis facing representative democracy around the world.

The jury also highlighted the screenplay and the film’s portrayal of a professor committed to social justice whose ideals come into conflict with a political system driven by individual interests rather than the wider community.

“The film, which flows with great agility, skillfully shows the paradoxes the protagonist collides with, and the corruption to which he succumbs is the same that, alas, we are all too accustomed to recognising in every corner of our small world,” the jury said in a statement translated from Italian.

This year’s Lucca Film Festival also honoured acclaimed filmmakers Nanni Moretti and Julian Schnabel with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn attended the festival to present his latest feature, which received the Golden Panther Award.

Congratulating the cast and crew of Master, Sumit wrote on social media, “Kudos to my incredible cast and crew, you guys rock!”