‘Exodus’ crowned at US filmfest

Iran documentary feature film ‘Exodus’ by Bahman Kiarostami has been crowned best at the New Orleans Film Festival in the US.  

‘Exodus’ was screened at the ‘Documentary Feature Competition’ section of the 30th edition of New Orleans and succeeded to take home the special jury award of the event.

The documentary focuses on migrant workers from Afghanistan who entered Iran illegally and now wish to go back home, and they make their case at the government center near the border. 

The documentary had previously competed in the Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival held in the Canadian city of Toronto. It also won the best film award at the 12th Cinema Verite, Iran’s major festival of documentary films.

Award of Excellence is another global accolade received by Kiarostami from the 16th edition of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan.

Bahman, son of the late critically acclaimed director Abbas Kiarostami, said that he was inspired by his father in making ‘Exodus’. "The film owes a debt to Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Homework’ and ‘First Graders’."

Short films ’Black Eared’ by Behzad Azadi and ‘Absent Wound’ by Maryam Tafakkori were also among the films in the running.

‘Gray Body’ by Samaneh Shojaee, about a doctor who is visiting a roomful of psychiatric patients, was also screened in the short animation competition section of the event. 

Over 200 films from all over the world competed at the New Orleans Film Festival which is an Oscar-qualifying film event.

The annual film festival was held in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 16-23, 2019.

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