‘Kupal’ wins award in Nigeria

Majid Gorjian, cinematographer of the Iranian feature ‘Kupal’ has received the Best Cinematography award at the 3rd Realtime International Film Festival (RTF) in Nigeria.

The Iranian feature was nominated in four categories, including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Soundtrack.

Directed by Kazem Molaie, ‘Kupal’ narrates the story of Dr. Ahmad Kupal, who is a taxidermist hunter, when he faces a challenge just before the New Year.

The main cast of the movie is the late actor Levon Haftvan and a smart dog named Sharon plays a key role.

Nazanin Farahani, Pourya Rahimi-Sam, and Hossein Shamsabadi are among the notable cast of Molaie’s flick.

Molaie’s feature film debut attended the competitive section of the Fajr Film Festival in February 2017 and recently won the best feature award at the ‘Around’ Film Festival in Amsterdam as well as the best foreign film award at the 26th edition of the Berkeley Video & Film Festival in the US.

Attending the Cine Pobre Film Festival in Mexico and the 4th Iranian Film Festival of Zurich in Switzerland, as well as winning the Best Cinematography Award from the 5th Fine Arts Film Festival in the US are among the most recent achievements by ‘Kupal’.

The Iranian-Armenian Haftvan died March 10 at the age of 51 following an incident which occurred on the set of a new production he was shooting.

The RTF catalogue theme for 2018 was "Stories That Touch". The festival’s mission, according to the event’s website, is to “champion an artistic baseline where equity and openness is enhanced among creative artists, filmmakers and film enthusiasts.”

The third edition of RTF was held on June 24 – 30, 2018, in Lagos, Nigeria.

MG/AG