‘Driving Lessons’ nabs award in Italy

‘Driving Lessons’ has picked up one more authentic award from the 22nd edition of the Religion Today Film Festival in Italy.

Marzieh Riahi’s piece continues to wrack up accolades on the short film circuit with the Italian best film award as its latest international glory which was granted to it during a closing ceremony held on Thursday.  

The film is about a young girl named Bahareh who must have her traditional chauvinistic husband accompany her on driving lessons so she and her male instructor won’t be alone. 

Iranian director Amir-Ali Alaee received the award on behalf of Riahi who was not able to attend the closing ceremony of the festival.

This comes as Iranian acclaimed documentary ‘Beloved’ by Yasser Talebi has also received an honorable mention at the event.

‘Driving Lessons’ has so far attended several global film events and has become a recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Best Short Drama Award at the 2019 “I Will Tell” (IWT) international film festival in the UK and the Best Short Film Award at the 2019 Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia.

Founded in 1997, the Religion Today Film Festival was “the first event of its kind dedicated to dialogue between cinema and religions”, according the gala’s website.

The latest edition of the event was held in Trento on October 2-10, 2019.

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