Every year, the Iranian House of Cinema organizes the Iran Cinema Celebration to commemorate Iran’s National Day of Cinema. However, it will not be holding the 22nd edition of the celebration as in previous years, and instead plans to divert funds allocated for the event to its members.
The honoring ceremony was due to take place during the 38th Fajr International Film Festival in May, however, it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, the Iranian cineastes who were selected to judge the international events in 2019 will be honored along with the cineastes.
Numerous Iranian films were honored at international events in 2019.
Iranian filmmaker Mohammadreza Vatandoost’s film “Lotus” was awarded as best documentary at the Sharjah Film Platform (SFP) in December 2019.
The film is about an old woman who is waiting for a permit to enter an island after 12 years to visit her son’s grave.
“Here My Village” written and directed by Abbas Aram won awards in four categories, including best director and best story, at the 5th Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY) in New Delhi, India in December.
“Here My Village” is about Farhad, a 12-year-old village boy who is crazy about photos and magazines. He tries to work hard to buy a second-hand camera, but he does not succeed.
Also in December, Narges Abyar’s acclaimed movie “When the Moon Was Full” won the grand prize at the 2nd edition of the Carcassonne International Political Film Festival in France.
The film also received the student jury award for the best film, while the best performance award was awarded to the star of the film, Elnaz Shakerdoost.
“When the Moon Was Full,” tells the story of a woman from Tehran who marries a man from an Iranian province near the border of Pakistan. Soon after, she discovers that her new brother-in-law is a religious extremist trying to recruit her husband for his bloody cause.
Amir-Hushang Moin’s acclaimed short film “Am I a Wolf?” won first prize at the 5th Animation Marathon, an animation and audiovisual arts festival in Athens, Greece in November.
The movie is about a group of children who perform the familiar story of the wolf and the yearlings in school as a puppet show. The nanny goat grieving for its yearlings and the angry wolf in its solitude face each other.
Actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya presided over the international jury of the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala, India.
Saeid Nejati, the Iranian director of the acclaimed short film “It Rains Slowly”, was selected as a member of the jury for the 15th International Short and Independent Film Festival (ISIFF), in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Source: Tehran Times