The Iranian feature film 'Rona, Azim's Mother' by Jamshid Mahmoudi won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the IFF Mannheim-Heidelberg 2019.
The festival prizes were not awarded this year by a jury, but by the audience, according to the event's organizers.
‘Rona, Azim’s Mother’ centers around Azim (Mohsen Tanabandeh), an afghan refugee, who lives and works in Tehran along with his family. Being the head of entire family and as the eldest brother, he arranges for his brother Faroogh, and his family along with their mother to be smuggled into Germany. But at the last moments Faroogh shamefully makes his decision known to Azim that he's not going to take their mother who is very attached to her grandchildren. Azim who feels lonely and is furious, accidentally finds out that his mother is in dire need of a kidney transplant, otherwise she'll die in 2 months. He has to choose between his own life and his mother's whom he has always claimed as the most important one in his life.
"The film moves us because Azim is amongst us, in our society, within each of us. How do you live with death, when does life end, how far are you willing to go for what and who is holy to you? The path to the end of life can only be taken, when we hold on to one another in love and let each other go in love," writes the festival in praise of the film.
The film was screened on 14, 15 and 18 November in Mannheim, and on 15 and 16 Nov. in Heidelberg in the presence of the director Jamshid Mahmoudi.
‘Rona, Azim’s Mother’ had previously won the Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO at the 13th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, as well as the Kim Jiseok Award at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival, and the best film award at the 2019 Sama Film Festival in Sweden.
MS/SABA46016
Your Comment