US audience votes for Iranian short

Iranian short film 'Are You Volleyball?!' by Mohammad Bakhshi has won the Narrative Short award at the 31st annual Virginia Film Festival's Audience Awards.

'Are You Volleyball?!' is a story about a group of Arabic-speaking asylum seekers arriving at an English speaking country's border, with no way of communicating with the confrontational border guards. A death and mute child, however, becomes the facilitator for better communication between the sides.

With only a year since its initial international screening, 'Are You Volleyball?!' has appeared in 199 international festivals, winning 65 national and international awards, and 25 award nominations.

The film has so far won awards such as Best Film Prize at the Al-Nahj Film Festival in Iraq, Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the Short Film Competition section at the US Forum on Law, Culture & Society, Best Film at the BCN Sports Film Festival in Spain, Best Editor award at the Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest in Romania, Best Short Film Award at the Unknown Film Festival in Russia, and Best Short Film Award at the Changing Face International Film Festival in Australia.

The 31st annual Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia which was held on November 1-4, 2018 in Charlottesville, VA.

The festival featured close to 200 films while recording nearly 30,500 attendees.

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