‘Are You Volleyball?!’ wins award in Romania

Iranian short film ‘Are You Volleyball?!’ has won an award at the 2018 edition of the Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest in Romania.

Directed by Mohammad Bakhshi, the film brought Best Editor award from the April edition of the Bucharest event to the editor Esmaeil Alizadeh.

The film features a group of Arabic-speaking asylum seekers who try to make their way to the border in an English speaking country.

They get into a conflict with border guards every day up until a deaf-mute child becomes a catalyst for better communication between the two sides.

'Are You Volleyball?' has so far attended several internationally acclaimed film events, including the 4th Kinolub International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Poland, the FICTS - Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs in France, the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia in Japan, the 7th edition of Children’s Right International Film Festival in Turkey, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the 6th Speechless Film Festival in the US, the Bangladesh Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival in the US.

The film has won awards such as Best Film Prize from the Al-Nahj Film Festival in Iraq, Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the 6th Short Film Competition section at the US Forum on Law, Culture & Society, and Best Film at the BCN Sports Film Festival in Spain.

The Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest is a monthly film competition focusing on international independent cinema. The event aims to support new filmmakers and to promote the research and development of new means of expressivity through cinematography as art among diverse audiences.

MG/MG