Iran’s Roshd filmfest awards Indian ‘Madappally United’

The 51st edition of the Roshd International Film Festival in Iran has picked Indian movie ‘Madappally United’ as the best fiction.

The Roshd festival, organized annually by the Ministry of Education to promote films on educational topics for children, announced its winners during a special ceremony at Tehran’s Felestin Cinema on Friday.

Directed by Ajay Govind, ‘Madappally United’ follows students in a government school in Madappally (Kerala) who are awarded sports kits as part of a corporate social responsibility program.

Little did they know that the chief guest at the ceremony, Advocate Prakash, is falsely embroiled in a fraudulent land deal case that risks not only his reputation as an honest lawyer, but also his and his family’s safety.

As a Saturday morning dawns in the small coastal town, the children, 7 boys and 4 girls, set out eagerly to play their game of cricket, much to the amusement of those they meet along the way. A journey, no matter how short, is a journey, nonetheless.

It is during their journey to the playground that morning, oblivious to the ominous occurrences around them, that they learn that empathy, leadership and sportsmanship are more important than bat-and-ball games; and that adults would gain much more if they would practice the values that they preach to children.

Iranian filmmaker Morteza Rahimi won the best director award for making ‘Balit’. The movie is about a boy who lost his father when he was very young. His mother has been forced into an arranged marriage. Now, Balit begins a search to find his mother.

Abdollah Alimorad’s ‘A Replacement’ from Iran won the award for best animation. The animation received the award for the correct use of the native Iranian visual elements.

‘The Fisherman’ from France brought the best animation director to François Balanant for observing all the standards of an international festival and poetic concepts.

The special jury prize went to Ahmad Dehqan’s ‘Isatis’, a documentary by about one man’s journey to the desert in central Iran.

MG/MG