Mumbai, Jun 18 (IANS): Globally-acclaimed film-maker Vinod Ganatra has become the first Indian to be conferred the prestigious ‘Nelson Mandela Lifetime Achievement Award’ of South Africa for his contribution to films, an official said here on Tuesday.

Ganatra, a well-known film-maker and editor from Gujarat, now based in Mumbai, was honoured with the coveted award at the ongoing 7th Nelson Mandela Children’s Film Festival, for his immense contributions to the world of cinema for kids.

Ganatra has already bagged 36 national and international awards, including the ‘Janakinath Gaur Award’ from Doordarshan for his children’s programme, ‘Baingan Raja.’

He became the only Indian film-maker to receive the ‘Liv Ullmann Peace Prize’, in Chicago, for his Gujarati film, ‘Harun-Arun’.

Ganatra has been invited to serve on the jury of over a 100 national, regional and international film festivals world over in the past three decades.

He has edited/directed more than 400 documentaries and news reels, produced 25 multilingual television programmes for children and youth.

Acting in the children’s film movement, he was the Founder-Director of the ‘Ahmedabad International Children Film Festival’ and Jury of Culture Cinema Film Festival (C2F2) and KidzCINEMA an international children’s film festival, both in Mumbai.

Ganatra catapulted to world fame and picked up a string of awards for his debut, feature ‘Heda-Hoda (Blind Camel)’, followed by ‘Lukka-Chhuppi (Hide-n-Seek)’, which created a record for being the first children’s film entirely shot at the highest altitude in Ladakh.

He followed it up with another Gujarati film, ‘Harun-Arun’ themed on the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat which premiered at the 26th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival.

For 12-consecutive years, Ganatra has served on the Board of the UNESCO’s 1995-founded International Centre of Films for Children & Young People, and is an honorary member there at present.