“Lene 1927”, a documentary by Iranian filmmaker Behruz Abbas Dashti, focusing on the journey of the Austrian painter Lene Schneider-Kainer (1885- 1971) to Iran, won the award for best documentary in the international section. 

“Kavez”, a documentary featuring the efforts by a tortoise, which is trapped in a net and tries to save itself by director Reza Akbarian won the special documentary award.

The special award is a one-week trip to the islands of Kish and Hendurabi for research works.

The award for best short fiction was given to “Just like Water” by Manos Triantafillakis from Greece.

The movie is about the father of the director, Spyros, his life and experiences, seeking to promote the natural beauty of the island of Crete on which the father left his imprint.

The awards in the Tourism category were next announced. 

The best artistic achievement award was given to “Chauffer” by Arman Fayyaz.

The award for best screenplay was handed to Mahyar Mandegar for “White Winged Horse”, while Mandegar also received the award for best director in this section.

Named the best film of the festival was the film “White Winged Horse”, which, as a result, can directly attend the Slemani International Film Festival in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah.

“Ojagh” by Iranian filmmaker Ali Bolandnazar won the award for best short documentary. It is a study of the rituals of the Qashqai Turkic tribe regarding fire.

The best fiction award was also handed to “Dabor” by Saeid Nejati.

“Dabor” is about how parents deal with their children’s puberty.

According to the director of the festival Ebrahim Hesari, a lineup of 41 films in the national section and 20 films in the international section were competing at the festival this year.

The films were coming from Sweden, Iraq, Morocco, Spain, Tanzania, France, Lebanon, Austria, Syria, Peru and several others.

Founder of the River Film Festival in Italy Emilio Della Chiesa, film producer Irina Ruiz Figueroa from Panama and actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya from Iran were the jury members of the international section of the festival this year.

Kianush Ayyari, Turaj Aslani, Hooman Seyyedi, Mahvash Sheikholeslami and Mohsen Ostadali were the jury members of the national section.

Source:Tehran Times