TISFF 2021 announces winners

The 37th edition of the Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF) has announced the winners of national and international sections.

Addressing the closing gathering, the director of the gala Sadeq Mousavi appreciated the organizers, and the filmmakers who sent about 1700 short films to the secretariat of the event.

Saying Iran is one of the top 10 producers of short films in the world, Head of the Cultural and Social Commission of the Islamic Council of Tehran, Mohammad-Javad Haqshenas, added “We have been dealing with the Covid-19 disease for more than a year and many jobs and professions have been damaged, including the people of culture and art.”

He also noted that the Iranian Youth Cinema Association, which organizes national and international festivals, is one of the oldest cinema schools in the world.

Deputy of the Health Ministry Iraj Haririchi appreciated the dedication of a section to health and the festival organizers for commemorating martyrs of health section.

Head of Cinema Organization Hossein Entezami said “When a phenomenon dominates the world, two paths can be taken; one is to shut everything down, and the other is to experience bio-coronation and move on with it. This festival took the second way and I have to thank my colleagues.”

Shahab Abroshan won the award for best film in the COVID-19 section for ‘Ansins’.

In the short film study conference, Ahmad Khoshniyyat won the first prize and Parisa Hosseinzadeh and Mohsen Rahnama received the second and third prizes, respectively.

Elham Hosseinzadeh, President of the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) presented the ISFA Medal to Iman Salehi for innovation in theme and creativity in the presentation of the film ‘Fear Shifts’. The category also honored Babak Mostafavi for ‘Dakal’ and Mahsa Samani for ‘Haboob’.

The award for Best International Documentary was presented to ‘Kak Iraj’ by Jamshid Farajvand-Farda from Iran.

‘Candela’ co-directed by Marc Riba and Anna Solanas from Spain won the award for best animated short film.

‘DA YIE’ (Good Night) directed by Anthony Nti from Ghana received the award for best short fiction film.

The festival statuette and the cash prize for the best cinematography went to Vahid Biouteh for ‘Gabriel’.

Leila Mir-Nasiri won the Diploma of Honor for Best Innovation for her role in ‘Nahid’.

The best editing award was presented to Babak Bahrambeigi for editing ‘Khoniar Children’.

The festival statue and a cash prize for the best sound went to Mohammad-Hossein Mehrjou and Seyyed-Mohammad Kashfi for ‘Khounab’.

Mohammad Reza Moradi won the festival statue and a cash prize in the best screenplay adaptation category for ‘Dual Pa’.

The festival statuette and a cash prize in the category of the best screenplay went to Samad Alizadeh for ‘Nahid’.

The best animation director award was presented to Mona Abdollah-Shahi for ‘Red Fire’.

Arman Gholipour-Dashtaki won the Best Documentary Director Award for ‘Khoniar Children’.

The award for best director of experimental film was presented to Kamal Kachoueean for ‘Adapt’.

Mahyar Mandegar won the Best Feature Film Award for ‘Winged White Horse’.

The award for best film in Iranian cinema was presented to Hamid-Reza Zobair for production of ‘Winged White Horse’.

Reza Fahimi from Iran won the grand prize of the festival in the international section for ‘Sefidpoosh’ (white-dressed).

The 37th TISFF was held in physical and online formats at cinema hall of Iran Mall on January 20-25.

The selection committee of the 37th edition of the event selected 56 works out of 4,987 submitted films.

The selected titles were comprised of 30 short films, 16 animated short films, eight short documentaries, and two experimental shorts.

The selected short films were from France, Poland, Spain, Russia, China, Italy, Austria, the US, Czechia, Belarus, Serbia, Macedonia, Cyprus, Ghana, Bulgaria, Turkey, South Korea, Belgium and Canada, among others.

Organized by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS), the TISFF is held annually in the Iranian capital city of Tehran to provide an opportunity for young filmmakers to exchange their experiences.

MG/MG