Turkish fest awards 2 Iranian films

The 2nd edition of the Diyarbakir International Short Film Festival in Turkey has awarded ‘The Zoo’ and ‘Where the Winds Die’ from Iran.

Written and directed by Nafiseh Zare and produced by Kaveh Mazaheri and Sourena Ekbatani, ‘The Zoo’ won the award for best film at the international competition of the Turkish event.

“Among the animals in the zoo, Rana is looking for a deer she has been dreaming of, and her mother is looking for the right opportunity to tell her the important news,” a short synopsis of the flick reads.

The cast list of the short includes Sonia Sanjari, Tarannom Ahangar, and Daryoush Reshadat.

‘The Zoo’ has already gone on screen at some global events, including the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa, the International Film Festival – FERFILM in Kosovo, the International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival, and the Universal Kids Film Festival, both in Turkey.

The special jury award of the Diyarbakir was presented to ‘Where the Winds Die’ directed by Pejman Alipour and produced at the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center.

‘Where the Winds Die’ is a 13-minute animation about the chemical attack by the Iraqi regime on the Iranian town of Sardasht, in West Azarbaijan Province, in 1987.

The former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, used chemical weapons in Sardasht, killing more than 1,000 and injuring more than 8,000 civilians, many of whom were permanently disabled.

The Iranian animation received the best human rights award at the Music Film Festival in France.

The animation went on screen at the MEDIAWAVE International Film and Music Gathering in Hungary, the Kaohsiung International Film Festival in Taiwan, Films Against War Festival (Edukino) in Poland, Indiecork International Film Festival in Ireland, the Chaniartoon International Comic & Animation Festival in Greece, the Athens ANIMFEST in Greece, the World Festival of Animated Film (Animafest Zagreb) in Croatia, and the Fantastic Film Festival – Galacticat in Spain, where it won the Best Short Animation Award.

A jury comprising Gozde Kural, Bulut Reyhanoglu and Banu Sivaci selected the winners at the international category of the Diyarbakir.

The short film festival was established by the Diyarbakir Culture, Art and Cinema Association in order to introduce the Turkish city by bringing together short filmmakers and professionals in the area.

The 2022 edition of the event was held in October in Turkey.

MG/AG