Iran’s ‘The Wasteland’ wins at Asian Film Awards

The 15th edition of the Asian Film Awards (AFAA) has honored Iranian feature ‘The Wasteland’ directed by Ahmad Bahrami.

Masoud Amini-Tirani won the best cinematography award of the event for his collaboration in the flick.

It is worth to mention that Bahrami was also nominated in the event’s best new director award category.

‘The Wasteland’ is about hard working conditions and complex human relationships between several families living in a working environment.

Set in a remote factory where many families with different ethnicities work, they produce bricks in an ancient way and the boss seems to hold the key to solve their problems.

Forty-year-old Lotfollah, who has been born on-site, is the factory supervisor and acts as a go-between for the workers and the boss.

The boss asks Lotfollah to gather all the workers in front of his office to talk with them about the shutdown of the factory.

Now, the only issue that has occupied Lotfollah’s mind is to keep Sarvar, the woman he has been in love with for a long time, unharmed.

The cast list of the film includes Ali Baqeri, Farrokh Nemati, Mehdi Nassaj, Majid Farhang, and Mahdieh Nassaj.

‘The Wasteland’ received the best film awards at the Subversive Film Festival in Croatia and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

It has also gone on screen at global events such as the Stockholm International Film Festival in Sweden and the Orizzonti Competition Section of the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, where it won the Best Film Award, FIPRESCI Award, and FAI Foundation Award.

The AFAA is jointly founded in 2013 by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Tokyo International Film Festival for the development of Asian cinema.

The 2021 edition of the event was held during a hybrid ceremony on October 8. It also hosted award-winning Iranian feature film ‘Sun Children’. 

AA/MG