Prestigious fest honors veteran comedian

The 36th edition of the Fajr Film Festival (FFF) has honored the veteran Iranian comedian Akbar Abdi.

The FFF opened on Thursday in Milad Tower’s Convention Hall in Tehran by honoring three veteran cineastes, Abdi, Manouchehr Esmaeili, and Mohammad-Ali Najafi, as well as paying tribute to late film producer Ali Moallem.

The last part of the event was honoring the popular actor Abdi with lifetime achievement award.

Ahmadreza Motaemdi and Masoud Dehnamaki presented the award to Abdi.

Filmmaker Motaemdi, 56, who worked with Abdi in a number of movies said, “With more than 30 years of instructing cinema in my job, I can say for sure that Abdi is the most flexible artist and most capable actor in Iran cinema.”

Abdi said “I have had the honor to work with great directors, including Nasser Taqvai, Davoud Mirbaqeri and Ali Hatami, and the only filmmaker I have collaborated with in six movies is Dehnamaki.”

“Manouchehr Esmaili lent his voice to my character in the film (‘Mother’ by Ali Hatami) which made my acting better. He made up for my lacks in the film and improved the quality of the role with his voice,” he added.

In nearly four decades, Abdi, 57, has played a vast range of roles in over 50 series and 80 movies.

Established in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival celebrates cultural exchange, displays creative achievements of highly acclaimed cineastes and pays tribute to local and international films.

Since its establishment, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran every year.

The 36th edition of the Fajr Film Festival is slated for February 1-11, 2018, in Iran.

MG/MMF