Golden Apricot awards Iranian films

The 19th Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival (GAIFF) in Armenia has awarded two Iranian titles.

Iranian-Polish-German ‘Subtotals’ by Iranian director Mohammad-Reza Farzad, which took part in the festival’s Apricot Stone category, received the Golden Apricot.

The film is “a haunting, poetic study of life, love and the mysteries of time”, according to its synopsis.

In the Regional Panorama category, the Silver Apricot went to the Iranian film ‘The Apple Day’ by Mahmoud Ghaffari.

The film also won the FIPRESCI Award named after the late Dutch film critic Peter van Bueren.

“A first-grade primary school teacher in a poor suburb of Tehran assigns a letter to each student and asks them to bring items starting with an assigned letter, related to their fathers' jobs. Mehdi's father is a fruit seller and he must bring 30 apples ("Seeb'' in Farsi) to class on the "S" Day. However, an unfortunate event immerses the family in a crisis. Saeed, Mehdi's older brother, should find a way to overcome this challenge and help Mehdi for “the apple day",” a synopsis for the film reads.

The Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival aims to “to build bridges and foster dialogue between different cultures”, website of the event reads.

The GAIFF “welcomes films representing diverse ethnic groups, religions, and nations that depict the human experience”.

The 19th edition of the festival took place on July 10-17.

SQ/MG