Yari festival picks Iranian ‘Are You Volleyball?!’ as best short

Iranian short ‘Are You Volleyball?!’ has won an award at the 18th edition of the Yari Iranian Film Festival in Sweden.

Held in the Swedish cities of Uppsala and Stockholm, the event presented its best short film award to the Iranian acclaimed title.

Directed by Mohammad Bakhshi, the film features a group of Arabic-speaking asylum seekers who try to make their way to the border of 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 attended several internationally acclaimed film events, including the 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 Children’s Right International Film Festival in Turkey, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Speechless Film Festival in the US, the Bangladesh Film Festival, the New York Film Festival in the US, the Regina International Film Festival in Canada, the Adana Film Festival in Turkey, and the Batumi Film Festival in Georgia.

The film has so far won awards such as Best Film Prize from the Al-Nahj Film Festival in Iraq, Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the Short Film Competition section at the US Forum on Law, Culture & Society, Best Film at the BCN Sports Film Festival in Spain, Best Editor award at the Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest in Romania, Best short Film Award at the Unknown Film Festival in Russia, and Best Short Film Award at the Changing Face International Film Festival in Australia.

The Yari festival is organized every year by Yari, an Uppsala-based charity organization that helps street children in Iran to go to school and also raises funds for the construction of schools and libraries for children.

Actor Pejman Bazeghi, who was the event’s special guest, is a Yari ambassador this year. Mikael Hylin from Sweden and Iranian cineaste Alireza Mojallal were among the jury members of this edition.

The festival ran on September 22-23, 2018.

MG/MF