Iran’s Sanjari wins top prize at US fest

Iranian female filmmaker has taken home best pioneering female filmmaker award of the 9th DTLA film festival in the US.

Shiva Sanjari received her award during the closing ceremony of the festival held in Los Angeles, for directing the movie ‘Here the Seats are Vacant’.

The festival, held September 21-30, was ground for competition among over one hundred movies from different countries.

In her movie, Sanjari chronicles the past and present life of a veteran female Iranian actor and director.

In an interview, Sanjari pinpointed how she imagined the final work as she lived for some time with the main character to get a firsthand experience of what the screenplay was centering upon.

She also noted how the life of the main character has shifted from the starry audiences to a small village, with no association with her past and her identity concealed. This, according to Sanjari, shows the metamorphoses of her life, from fame to the world of obscurity, where no one knows the veteran artist and the seats are vacant.  

The movie had also been screened at the 13th International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) Asian Women’s Film Festival, 2017.

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