22nd Int'l Fajr Film Festival’s Award Winners Announced

The ceremony started with the address of the festival secretary,Alireza Reza-Dad, who announced the achievements of the 22nd Film Festival.

According to Reza-Dad, the growing number of viewers, the quality and quantity of the films, public satisfaction with the produced films, their diversity and innovation were among the achievements of the current festival.

In the ceremony, the selected people in cinema were introduced and the celebrated Iranian film producers were lauded. Meanwhile, members of the juries for various competition sections including that of Iran, the international, debuts, short films and documentaries announced their decisions.

In the ceremony, the prominent film directors Abbas Kiarostami and Majid Majidi were lauded for the most frequent participation in national film festivals and grabbing the greatest number of cinematic trophies in the domestic scene respectively.

The Crystal Simorgh for the best film from the viewers' outlook was awarded to Kamal Tabrizi's “The Lizard.”

Also the famous film director Dariush Mehrju’i was applauded for his wide participation in the national cinematic affairs, while his movie “Mom’s Guest” received the Crystal Simorgh of the best film at the Iran’s competition section of the festival.

In the guest section of the festival, Ali Abdolalizadeh was awarded for his film dubbed `13 Cats on the Roof'.

The Crystal Simorghs of the best actor and actress went to Bahram Radan in the film “A Candle in the Wind” and Gowhar Kheyrandish “To Kill a Lover”.

Kambiz Dirbaz also grabbed the Crystal Simorgh of the best supporting actor in the film “Duel” and Merila Zare’i as the best supporting actress in the film “Friday Soldiers.”

“Duel” by Ahmadreza Darvish was the lucky winner of the 22nd Fajr Festival winning several Crystal Simorghs this year. The award of the best director went to Ahmadreza Darvish (Duel), while “Duel” received the awards of the best special effects (Mohsen Ruzbahani), stage designer (Amir-Hossein Esbati), sound effects (Hamid Naqibi), editor (Mostafa Kherqeh-Push), and cinematographer (Bahram Badakhshani).

The Crystal Simorgh for the best make-up went to Mehrdad Mirkiani, the best music (Mohammadreza Aliqoli) and best second film awards went to “Sacred Footsteps” (Mohammad-Mahdi Asgarpur).

Special jury award went to actor Parviz Parastu’i (The Lizard) and director Rakhshan Bani-E’temad (Nanny Gilaneh).

“Boutique” by Hamid Ne’matollah grabbed the award of the director’s first film. The best screenplay award went to Peyman Qasemkhani (The Lizard) and best sound Hassan Zahedi (Beautiful City).

In the international section, directors Shahram Mokri with the short film “Storm of Dragonflies” (Iran) and Kurosawa Kiyoshi “Bright Future” (Japan) received the best awards.

The award of the best film at the international section went to “The Return” by Andrey Zvyagintsev from Russia and special jury award to “The Marsh” by Behruz Afkhami (Iran).

Also, Iranian actor Ezzatollah Entezami in the film “The Marsh”, screenwriter Christopher Hampton for the film “The Quiet American” (The U.S.), and cinematographer Shibanushi Takahide for the film “Bright Future” (Japan) scooped up the special awards of the jury in the international section. While “The Lizard” also grabbed the inter-religious award of the jury and an honorary diploma went to “In This World” by Michael Winterbottom.

In the closing ceremony, Abbas Kiarostami, who was absent, in a letter to the office in charge of the festival referred to the role of the cinema intended for festivals in establishing dialogue with people and the world of the cinema.

He granted his trophy to the former head of Farabi Cinema Foundation's International Department, Ali Reza Shoja’ Nuri for his initiative to introduce Iranian cinema to the world.

RM/IS

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MNA