ISFA Awards announces nominees

The 11th edition of the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) Awards has announced the nominees.

‘White Winged Horse’ directed by Mahyar Mandegar leads the selection by receiving nominations in eight categories, including best film, best director, and best cinematography.

The short film was nominated at the “Talent Demo” category of the 28th EnergaCamerimage.

It tells the story of a man who returns to his Iranian hometown, which was destroyed in a war some 20 years ago.

He is searching for his childhood friend who had promised him an eternal love – if he were to return as a white-winged horse.

Past and present overlap in the poetic memory and imagination of the boy he once was.

The 70th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany honored ‘White Winged Horse’ with a special mention at the Generation section (14plus).

The jury panel of the Berlinale praised the short film, noting “This film uses the audience’s imagination to build an exceptional world, following an unlikely protagonist who nonetheless inspires strong emotion.”

“When fantasy eventually re-connects with reality, we can feel as if we are flying away with the white-winged horse,” the jury added.

‘White Winged Horse’ also went on screen at the Oscar-qualifying Tirana Film Festival in Albania and will be presented at the Izmir International Short Film Festival in Turkey this November.

The ISFA awarding ceremony is scheduled to be held online within a month.

Mehdi Hosseininia for ‘Ugliness’ (Birikhti), Amir-Hossein Hosseini for ‘Bro’, Reza Amouzadeh for ‘Monaco’, Saeed Changizian for ‘Emergency’, and Shadi Karamroudi for ‘Never, Sometimes, Always’ are nominated in the category of best actor/actress.

The nominees for best experimental director award are Davoud Abbasi for ‘The Blue Room’, Farhad Delaram for ‘Expo Pandemic’, Farhad Najafi for ‘Accumulation’ (Anbashtegi), Payam Rezaee for ‘Earth Style’ (Be Sabke Zamin), and Mohsen Salmani for ‘Living’ (Zistan).

The nominees for best feature film director award are Mahyar Mandegar for ‘White Winged Horse’, Mohammad Rahmati for ‘Ugliness’, Iman Salehi for ‘Fear Moves Itself’, Kaveh Mazaheri for ‘Funfair’, Maryam Esmikhani for ‘Emergency’, as well as Hessam Hosseini and Abbas Hosseinzadeh for ‘Mahakan’.

‘White Winged Horse’, ‘Fear Moves Itself’, ‘Bro’, ‘White Clad’, and ‘Emergency’ are nominated for best film award.

Read more:

Berlin Int’l Film Festival honors ‘White Winged Horse’

Camerimage Int’l filmfest nominates ‘White Winged Horse’

MG/MG