‘Lotus’, ‘Beloved’ make finalist at US fest

Two documentary feature films ‘Lotus’ and ‘Beloved’ have been shortlisted as the finalist for the 16th edition of Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in the US.  

‘Lotus’ by Mohammadreza Vatandoust is named finalist for the ‘Mini-Doc Competition’ section of the festival that is dedicated to films less than 15 minutes in length while Yaser Talebi’s ‘Beloved’ made a finalist of ‘Feature Competition’ section devoted to films over 40 minutes in length.    

The selected docs entered fest finals along with a batch of 10 other features from other countries. The winners in the Best Short and Best Mini-Doc categories will be qualified for 2019 Academy Award nomination in the Short Documentary category.

‘Beloved’ is the story of a kind and loving mother who is brave and strong enough to tackle the hardship of rough years of her life but never leaves her beloved. Despite having a tough lifestyle, she is trying to make it poetic.  

Big Sky has put the synopsis for ‘Lotus’ as, “In April of 2010, after the construction of the Lafour dam, Lafourak and several other villages were flooded under 80 meters of water. One old woman has waited 12 years for permission to cross the lake to an island where the last resident of Lafourak waits for her.”  

Good to know that the ‘Strands’ section of the festival includes a subsection dubbed ‘Stories from Iran’ that is to showcase four Iranian feature films: ‘Aleppo: The Silence of the War’, ‘Finding Farideh’, ‘Skipper Soleiman’, ‘Beloved’ and ‘Lotus’.

Also, among the jury grid is an Iranian name Bahman Nouraee Beidokht who is an international distributor of films, producer, translator and TV host.

Nouraee is a member of the organizing team of Iran's prominent Fajr International Film Festival since 2004. He has also been involved with the organization of numerous Iranian film festivals including Iran’s International Documentary Film Festival, Cinema Verite.   

According to the official website of the festival, the aim of the festival is to celebrate and promote the art of nonfiction filmmaking, and to encourage media literacy by fostering public understanding and appreciation of documentary film.

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (BSFI) nurtures and elevates non- fiction films that have the power to transform the world, culture, our youth and ourselves.

The event will be held in the U.S. city of Missoula, Montana from February 15-24, 2019.

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