“In the Color of Purple” also brought Hassan Karimi a Crystal Simorgh for best cameraman and won the Audience Favorite Crystal Simorgh.
The film, which tells the story of a romance between an Iranian intelligence agent and the daughter of an opposition group leader, was unofficially banned as director Hatamikia withdrew it from the screening schedule of the 23rd Fajr International Film Festival 2005, due to objections by the Intelligence Ministry.
Directors Alireza Raissian and Homayun As’adian shared the Special Jury Prize for “Age Forty” and “Gold and Copper”.
Organizers snub journalists
Iranian reporters and photojournalists were not able to properly cover the closing ceremony of the festival because they were told there were no seats left at the theater at Tehran’s Milad Tower so they would have to stand during the event.
According to custom at previous years’ closing ceremonies, only journalists, cineastes, and VIPs should have been allowed to attend the ceremony, but many people were also seen in the hall who did not fit the bill.
The reporters and photojournalists decided to walk out of the closing ceremony because they were not given any seats.
However, the festival’s secretary visited the reporters and photojournalists in the lobby of the hall as they were walking out and told them the large crowd showed that the festival had been warmly received.
Organizers lifted bans on a number of previously censored films this year and allowed them to be screened at the festival in an effort to enliven the event, which was boycotted by a number of Iranian artists.
Consequently, actress Fatemeh Gudarzi, Ezzatollah Entezami, screenwriters Minu Farshchi and Farhad Tohidi, director Asghar Farhadia and filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami declined serving on the jury and gave various excuses for their refusals.
Several recognized international artistic personalities also withdrew their films from the festival in response to calls by Iranian artists to boycott the event, which is Iran’s most important cinematic and cultural event of the year.
British director Ken Loach, French film director Philippe Lioret, Greek art house director Theo Angelopoulos, and Palestinian film director Elia Suleiman observed the boycott.
Following is a list of the winners:
Best Film: “In the Color of Purple” produced by Jamal Sadatian
Best Director: Ebrahim Hatamikia for “In the Color of Purple”
Best Screenplay: Shahram Asadi and Homayun Shahnavaz for “The Fateful Night” and Mostafa Rastegari for “Age Forty” shared the prize for this category.
Best Actor: Mohsen Tanabandeh (“The First Stone” and “Seven Minutes to Autumn”)
Best Actress: Negar Javaherian (“Gold and Copper”)
Best Supporting Actor: Mehdi Faqih (“The Kingdom of Solomon”)
Best Supporting Actress: Shirin Yazdanbakhsh (“Please Don’t Disturb!”)
Best Editor: Hossein Ghazanfari (“The Fateful Night”)
Best Cinematographer: Hassan Karimi (“In the Color of Purple”)
Best Composer: Behzad Abdi for “Aal” and Chan Kong Wing for “The Kingdom of Solomon” shared the award for this category.
Best Makeup Artist: Saeid Malekan (“The Kingdom of Solomon”)
Best Sound Effects: Ki-Sung Chang for “The Kingdom of Solomon” and Hossein Abssedq for “Aal” shared the award for this category.
Best Sound Recorder: Vahid Moqaddasi (“The Wakefulness of Dreams”)
Best Costume and Stage Designer: Abbas Bolondi (“The Fateful Night”)
Best Computerized Special Effects: Hadish Bigdeli-Shamlu for “Seven Minutes to Autumn” and Leo Lu for “The Kingdom of Solomon” shared the prize for this category.
Best Site Specific Special Effects: Mohsen Ruzbehani (“The Fateful Night”)
Best First Film Director: Bahram Tavakkoli (“Walking in Fog”)
MMS/YAW
END
MNA
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