RIFF festival awards ‘Elephantbird’

Iranian-Afghan short film ‘Elephantbird’ has been awarded at the R.E.D. International Film Festival (RIFF) of Norway.

The Iranian Youth Cinema Society reported on Monday that ‘Elephantbird’, directed by Amir-Masoud Soheili, was named as one of the winning short films (under 20 minutes) at the 5th edition of RIFF.

“The last wish of an old Afghan man is to give his elephant-bird (turkey) to his grandchild, but this simple wish is hard to realize,” a synopsis for the film reads.

‘Elephantbird’ attended several international festivals, including the 23rd AVANCA - International Meeting of Cinema, TV, Video and Multimedia in Portugal, the 14th Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia, and the Sedicicorto International Film Festival in Italy.

Launched in 2015, the RIFF is settled on a farm overlooking the Eina Lake, just outside Oslo.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival is being celebrated in two versions.

The first version, held on July 3-10, was a drive-in festival at the farm in Einawood.

The second version is a virtual festival through a new on-line magazine where audiences would have access to the films in July-August 3.

SQ/AG