This award from the Golden Knight International Film Competition in Malta, one of the longest running festivals for short films, was presented to Rajendra Gour, a pioneering independent filmmaker, for his work Eyes (1967), often acknowledged as a key early work of avant-garde cinema in Singapore. Before emigrating to Singapore to work for Radio and Television Singapore (RTS) in 1964, Gour studied film editing at the Film Institute of India, now known as the Film and Television Institute of India. He submitted the short film Mr. Tender Heart (1965) (now lost) to the Commonwealth Film Festival in 1965. Apart from Eyes , the other films Gour made included, A Labour of Love – The Housewife (1978), and My Child My Child (1979) both described as being progressive for their time in their frank examination of motherhood and family. A Labour of Love – The Housewife highlighted the ways in which industrial societies fail to recognise the economic contributions of stay-at-home mothers in the domestic sphere, while My Child My Child showed the perspective of a mother reflecting on her individuality despite her socially prescribed roles as a mother and housewife. These short films are chamber pieces that were mostly shot within Gour’s flat, together with his wife, Kamlesh Gour, and their children acting in the films.