Shanghai TV Festival nominates Iranian ‘Beloved’

The 25th edition of the Shanghai TV Festival (STVF) has nominated Iranian ‘Beloved’ for best documentary.

Iran’s Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) announced the nomination on Saturday.

Directed by Yasser Talebi, ‘Beloved’ is about the difficult but favorable life of an 83-year-old mother named Firouzeh who runs a unique life in the Alborz Mountains in north Iran.

Firouzeh hikes across the rugged landscape carrying bundles of wood. When she was a young girl, a marriage was arranged for her with an older man, with whom she had 11 children. Now, none of her children come to visit her and her attempts to get closer to them remain futile.

The 63-minute documentary has attended many global event, including the 2018 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the 16th Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in the US, the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, the 37th Fajr Film Festival in Iran, the 38th International Istanbul Film Festival in Turkey, and the 67th Trento International Film Festival in Italy where it won the jury special mention and a UNESCO honorable mention.

Most recently it took the first place among the top five mid-length films selected by the Canadian audience at the 26th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto.

The STVF, also known as the Shanghai International Television Festival, is the first and one of the largest television festivals in East Asia.

Held since 1986, the STVF has become one of the most influential and prestigious international television festivals in Asia, strengthening the cooperation and communication between the Chinese media industry and the world.

The 25th edition of the STVF is slated for June 10-14, 2019 in Shanghai, China.

MG/MG