Hamedan to fete Berlinale 2008 best actor Naji

The festival runs from June 21 to 25 in Hamedan.

Naji won the Silver Bear prize for best actor at the 58th Berlin Film Festival for his role in director Majid Majidi’s “The Song of Sparrows” in February 2008.

Naji started his career in theater when he was a teenager. Then, he joined the Iranian Army, where he continued playing in different roles. His first role in a film goes back to 1997 in “Children of Heaven”.

For playing the role of Ali’s father in “Children of Heaven”, director Majidi was seeking an actor with Azeri accent, and Naji was carefully selected from a group of 2,500 actors tested for the role. Since then, he has played several roles in Iranian films.

Naji has also starred in Iraj Karimi’s “Kandelus Gardens”, Khosro Masumi’s “The Wind Blows in the Grassland”, and Rahbar Qanbari’s “He” and “The Little Bird Boy”.

RM

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MNA