Fine Arts fest awards Iranian ‘Cocoon’, ‘Sheep Will Devour Us’

The 8th edition of the Fine Arts Film Festival (FAFF) in the US has awarded Iranian titles ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Sheep Will Devour Us’.

The winners of the festival, which was held online in Venice, California, were announced on Monday.

The Women’s Voices Award went to ‘Sheep Will Devour Us’ directed by Mostafa Rostampour and Atefeh Rezaeean from Iran and ‘I Lived Once’ by Marwah AlMugait from Saudi Arabia.

The US event also presented the Best Short Narrative to ‘Cocoon’ by Yavar Darehzami from Iran and ‘The Speech’ by Haohao Yan from China.

‘Sheep Will Devour Us’ is about a woman named Tahereh, who is a victim of very young age marriage. She, who has suffered the aftermath of such a tradition, is trying hard to avoid such a destiny for her younger sister.

‘Cocoon’ is about a short man who makes artificial limbs for himself and grows tall. Coming out of his house, every other one seems short in comparison to him.

Here is the full list of the winners:

Best Student Film, ‘Trees under Water’, Director: Julian Simon Pache (Germany)

Best VR Student Film, ‘Walking Past Abandoned Houses, I Think of Eric’, Director: Terrance Reimer (US)

Best VR Documentary, ‘Om Devi: Shereos Revolution’, Director: Claudio Casale (Italy)

Best VR Narrative, ‘Hominidae’, Director: Brian Andrews (US)

Best First Time Director, ‘Toprak’, Director: Sevgi Hirschhäuser (Turkey)

Best Cinematography, ‘Rust’, Cinematography: Wawrzyniec Skoczylas, Director: Rafal Malecki (Poland)

Human Rights Prize, ‘Janani's Juliet’, Director: Pankaj Rishi Kumar (India)

Daniel Wood Audience Award, ‘Kent Twitchell: Guardians’, Director: Eric Minh Swenson (US)

Big Pieces Company Award, ‘Aftermask’, Director: Anton Josef (US)

Women’s Voices Award, ‘Sheep Will Devour Us’, Directors: Mostafa Rostampour and Atefeh Rezaeean (Iran) and ‘I Lived Once’, Director: Marwah AlMugait (Saudi Arabia)

Best Photography Film, ‘New York Photographer: Jill Freedman In The City’, Directors: Rita Mullaney and David LaRocca (US) and ‘Layers: The Art Of Hadi Salehi's Photography’, Director: Bita Shafipour (US)

Best Music/Performance Film, ‘The Escape’, Director: Liudmila Komrakova (Russia)

Best Short Narrative, ‘Cocoon’, Director: Yavar Darehzami (Iran) and ‘The Speech’, Director: Haohao Yan (China)

Best Short Documentary, ‘I Am the Self of My Former Shadow’, Director: Joe Tibbetts (France)

Best Animated Film, ‘Dreamland’, Director: Gianluigi Toccafondo (Italy)

Best Original Score, ‘Jasmine Road’ (Canada), Composer: Suad Bushnaq (Jordan)

Best Experimental Film, ‘Dirt’, Directors: Helanius J. Wilkins and Roma Flowers (US)

Best Feature Documentary, ‘Portrayal’, Director: Billie Mintz (Canada)

Best Director, ‘Jasmine Road’, Director: Warren Sulatycky (Canada)

Best Feature Narrative, ‘Jasmine Road’, Director: Warren Sulatycky (Canada)

The FAFF aims to show films from around the world. The festival provides an opportunity for international filmmakers to showcase their works.

Established by the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, the festival is dedicated to showing the finest movies in the world about art.

The 2021 edition of the event was held on June 8-14.

Read more:

'Sheep Will Devour Us’ bags two awards at Screen Power fest

‘Kupal’ grabs best film award at Fine Arts filmfest

‘Light Sight’ awarded at US festival

MG/MG