.JPG "A winner makes a gesture after receiving an award during the closing ceremony of the 31st Tehran International Short Film Festival at Vahdat Hall on October 19, 2014. COI Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi (L) and festival secretary Habib Ilbeigi are seen clapping in the photo. (ISNA/Hamidreza Dastjerdi)")
TEHRAN -- Iranian director Mahbubeh Mohammad-Zaki’s “Digital Native” and Swiss filmmaker Christopher M. Saber’s “Discipline” have shared the Grand Prix at the 31st Tehran International Short Film Festival.
“Digital Native” is about a pregnant woman and her child, who are obsessed by the digital world, and “Discipline” tells the story of a chaotic situation occurring in a grocery store in Lausanne after a father looses patience and disciplines his disobedient child.
The winners in the international competition section were announced during the closing ceremony of the festival at Vahdat Hall on Sunday evening.
A jury composed of French producer Claude Guisard, Iranian producer Fereshteh Taerpur, Swiss media expert Lucie Bader, German director Esther Sabine Wenger, and Danish director Christian Braad Thomsen judged the films screened from October 14 19.
The Special Jury Award was presented to Omid Khoshnazar for “All the Winters I Haven’t Seen”, an animation on the aftermath of the 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja. The animation also won the award for best Asian short film.
The award for best fiction film went to “Grounded” by French director Alexis Michalik. The film is about Évelyne, who faces difficulties on the way to London for the burial of her mother.
“Lir” by Iranian director Mohammadreza Hafezi about a teacher and a group of Iranian nomads, who try to build a school in a remote mountainous region, won the award for best documentary.
The best animation award was presented to “Padre” by Argentinean director Santiago Bou Grasso. The story of the animation is set in 1983 as a woman dedicates her whole life to the care and health of her father, a very high dignitary in the army.
The animation “The Man Who Lost His Head” by French director Fred Joyeux won the best experimental film award. The animated documentary is about French composer Alain De Filippis.
“Silence” directed by Bekim Guri from Kosovo and “Cage” by Karima Hassanzada from Afghanistan shared the award for best short film from Islamic countries.
A number of officials and cultural figures attended the closing ceremony of the festival.
“Today, film is the best language to talk about Iran’s culture, art, and literature,” Cinema Organization of Iran (COI) Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi said in a short speech at the ceremony.
“I ask all officials and Majlis to reconcile with cinema and to support this art-industry,” he added.
He made the remarks in response to some obstacles that the Majlis put in the way of screening two social dramas, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s “Tales” and Reza Dormishian’s “I’m Not Angry”.
MMS/YAW
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