Hamburg fest awards Iranian filmmakers

The 12th Hamburg Kurdish Film Festival in Germany has honored two Iranian filmmakers with the first and second prestigious awards of the event.

Iranian 12-minute short flick ‘The Stain’ directed by Shouresh Vakili received the first prize of the event while the Jury Special Mention was awarded to the short film 'Quarantine' by Mohammad Reza Ardalan.

‘The Stain’ is about an ex-soldier who works in a movie theater. He tries to remove a blood stain that appears on screen every time a war film is played.

But the more he fights with the stain, the bigger it gets until it drips onto the floor and leaves a puddle.

‘The Stain’ has been screened at some global events, including the 18th Salento Int’l Film Festival (BISCEGLIE) in Italy, the "One Shot" International Short Film Festival in Armenia, the 1st Apox Documentary International Film Festival in Croatia, the 1st Moscow Kurdish Film Festival in Russia, as well as "The Wild West" FreedomFest 2019, the 21st Ojai Film Festival, the 2020 Threadbare Mitten Film Festival, and the 3rd PressPlay film festival, all in the US.

It is also the recipient of the Best Short Film award at the 2020 Small Axe film festival in the UK and first prize at the Best Social Shorts Films category of the 4th Solidando Film Festival in Italy.  

The jury of the Hamburg fest described 'Quarantine as saying, '"It visually explores the Kurdish history of hardship and the burden of its legacy on younger generations in an indirect yet gripping fashion. With clever usage of sneaking camera shots, strong lighting, minimalistic set design, and great performances, the director succeeds at holding the suspense where many directors fail- even with much bigger budgets and more elaborate equipment. The jury congratulates the whole production and encourages them to continue to explore this cinematic style.”

This year, some 42 works were screened at the festival, including ten documentaries, 24 animation and story short films, and four films in the special section for children and teenagers.

The event was held on October 28 - November 3 in Hamburg, Germany.

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