A co-production between Iran and Czech, the film won the honor in the Asian cinema competition during the closing ceremony of the event last Monday.
The documentary is about the life and death of Ebrahim Monsefi, aka Ebram, a popular singer, songwriter, and guitarist from the southern part of Iran. He was born 70 years ago in Bandar Abbas and passed away at the age of 50. It was just after his death that his works gradually became known and were published.
Iranian short films “Asho” by Jafar Najafi and “Gando” by Teimur Qaderi were also screened at the festival.
The Grand Prix in this section was presented to “Welcome to X-World” by South Korean filmmaker Han Tae ee.
It is about Doosan Apartment, Guro-dong. There are three people living in this house: mom, grandpa, and “me”. Dad passed away 12 years ago but mom and “I” still live with his father. From troubled marriage to moody father-in-law, mom has a million reasons to move out, but why doesn’t she? While “I” struggle with all these unanswered questions, grandpa tells them to move out.
“Daughter of the Light” by Chinese filmmaker Khashem Gyal won the Audience Award. Although 13-year-old Metok Karpo lives in a Tibetan boarding school for orphans, her divorced parents are alive and well, leaving her to be raised by her maternal grandparents, who make her school-holidays hell by continually denouncing her father. While her mother unsuccessfully remarries, Metok embarks on a journey to find her father.
In the international competition, “Cinema Pameer” by Swedish filmmaker Martin von Krogh won the grand prix.
The documentary tells the story of a cinema in Afghanistan where people come to escape everyday life and dream away from the war that surrounds them, “Cinema Pameer” uses a slice of everyday life in Kabul as a looking glass into Afghanistan today.
The special jury award in this section went to “499”, a co-production between Mexico and the USA by Rodrigo Reyes.
It is about a 16th-century conquistador who finds himself stranded in modern-day Mexico encountering real-life ordinary citizens whose lives have been upended in ways that the Conquistador could never have envisioned 499 years prior when Mexico was colonized by men like him
The Audience Award went to “How Big Is the Galaxy?”, a co-production between Russia and Estonia directed by Ksenia Elyan.
The documentary is about the Zharkov family that belongs to the Dolgan community, one of the last indigenous peoples pursuing their traditional nomadic lifestyle in the extreme north of Siberia. Nowadays, they can get homeschooling from teachers assigned to them by the Russian authorities. Seven-year-old Zakhar’s first year of schooling is with Nelly, a young but serious teacher. Each day, he has a hundred new questions about the world.
Source: Tehran Times