Iranian shorts vying at Humboldt fest

The 54th edition of the Humboldt International Film Festival in the US has been screening Iran’s ‘The Recess’ and ‘Ava’s Silence’.

Directed and written by Seyyed-Qolamreza Nematpour, ‘Ava’s Silence’ narrates the story of a girl named Ava. She has to work in her ill father’s auto shop.

She is waiting for her brother to return from military service so she can marry her fiancé.

The cast list of the flick includes Mahshid Dalvand, Amir-Masoud Masoudi, Morteza Fallahi, Ilia and Ahoura Dargahi, Hamid-Reza Hafezi, Seyyed-Taha Najafinejad, Hassan Ahmadvand, Sobhan Mohammadpour, Faezeh Khansari, and Peyman Karamzadeh.

‘Ava’s Silence’ has so far gone on screen at a number of global events, including the Gbeck Future Film Festival in Canada, the Ealing Film Festival in the UK, where it won the awards for Best Film and Best Narrative, and the Cinephilia Flair Film Festival in India, where it grabbed the Best Screenplay Award.

‘The Recess’, written, produced and directed by Navid Nikkhah-Azad, tells the story of a 17-year-old school-girl who runs away from school to watch the football match of her beloved club.

Sahar, along with three of her friends, is planning to exit the school during the break in order to watch the match between Esteghlal FC and Al Ain FC at Azadi Sports Complex.

Mozhan Kordi, Reyhaneh Naieean, Niloufar Shokouhinia, and Ghazal Khalili are on the cast list.

Kordi won the award for the best performance for her role in ‘The Recess’ at the 33rd Living Skies Student Film Festival in Canada.

Set to compete at the Alicante International Film Festival in Spain and the Grand River Film Festival in Canada, the short flick has so far taken part in a number of global events, including the Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival and the Garden State Film Festival, both in the US, the Sofia MENAR Film Festival in Bulgaria, the Lebu International Film Festival in Chile, and the Oxford Film Festival in the US, where it won the award for best short film.

The Humboldt International Film Festival is the oldest student-run film festival in the world. It has been bringing independent and alternative short films together for several years.

The 2021 edition of the festival has been slated for April 19-25.

Read more:

Cinephilia Flair awards Iranian ‘Ava’s Silence’

Iranian short ‘Ava’s Silence’ wins at Ealing Film Festival

Living Skies filmfest awards Iranian actress Mojan Kordi

Oxford filmfest awards ‘The Recess’

MG/AG