Iranian Cinema Vérité announces winners

The 15th edition of the Cinema Vérité, Iran’s major international documentary festival, has announced its winners.

The winners of different sections at the 15th Cinema Vérité were announced at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall last night during the closing ceremony of the gala.

The award for best film at the Short Length International Competition Section went to ‘A year in Exile’ by Malaz Usta from Turkey, and the main award at the Mid Length International Competition Section was presented to ‘One Image, Two Act’ by Sanaz Sohrabi from Canada.

‘In Flow of Words’ by Eliane Esther Bots from the Netherlands received the Special Jury Award at the international section, and the awards for best films at the Full-Length International Competition Section were presented to ‘Makeup Artist’ by Jafar Najafi, ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ by Ahmet Necdet Çupur, and ‘Broken Bones’ by Alireza Memariani.

At the national section, the award for Best Short Documentary Director was presented to Hamid Jafari for ‘Leaf’, and the Best Mid-Length Documentary Director award went to Farshad Fadaeean for ‘Surviving Fortress’.

Hassan Naqqashi won the award for Best Full-Length Documentary Director for ‘Persian School’ and Borhan Ahmadi received the Best Researcher award for ‘Life in the Archive’.

Faraz Fadaeean took home the Best Cameraman award for ‘Surviving Fortress’, and the award for Best Sound was presented to Bamdad Afshar and Meisam Hassanlou for ‘Bibijan’.

The award for Best Edit went to Hojjat Taheri and Abdolkhaleq Taheri for ‘Dying’, and Hadi Esfandiari and Farshad Fadaeean shared the award for Best Narration Writing for ‘Persian School’.

Mehdi Mahmoudkhani and Younes Eskandari shared the award for Best Music for ‘Tekiah-Dowlat’ and ‘A Story of the Last Year, respectively, and the Best Documentary award was presented to ‘Surviving Fortress’.

The special award of the jury panel went to Ali Hamraz’s ‘Exit Less’ and ‘That Night’ by Mina Qasemi-Zavareh

Mohammad Sayyad and Reza Mohammadpour received Special Award of National Section for ‘Let go of Mr. Sayyad’ and ‘Scent of a Mother, Scent of a Lake’, respectively.

The Martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani Award went to ‘Avertin’ by Hassan Vazirzadeh and Mohammad Salimi-Rad was honored by the Golden trophy of Martyr Avini for directing ‘The Soldier Number Zero’.

The silver and bronze trophies of Martyr Avini respectively went to Mehdi Qorbanpour for ‘Unfinished Day’ and Kamran Jahedi for ‘My Brother’s Gun’, while the Special Jury Awards were presented to ‘That Man’ by Mehdi Hojjat-Panah and ‘RACAL’ by Ahmad Ebrahimi.

Presided by Mohammad Hamidi-Moqaddam, the 2021 edition of the Cinema Vérité received more than 2,600 works from 73 countries.

The international competition consists of three sections including up to 40 minutes (Short Competition Section), 40 to 60 minutes (Mid-Length Competition Section) and 60 minutes and up (Full-Length Competition Section).

The Documentary and Experimental Film Centre (DEFC) organizes the event annually.

The festival showcases the very best of the documentary world in an attempt to bridge the gap between reality and truth.

The 2021 edition of the Cinema Vérité was held on December 9-16.

MG/AG