Six nominations for Iran film at US fest

Iranian comedy feature ‘Katyusha’ has received six nominations for the 13th edition of the Love International Film Festival (LIFF) in the US city of Los Angeles.

The recipients of the nominations are director/writer Ali Atshani, co-writer Mehdi Ali-Mirzaei, actors Hadi Hejazifar and Ahmad Mehranfar, and cinematographer Mahmoud Atshani.

The film’s nominations are as follows:

Best Feature Film

Best Actor for Hadi Hejazifar’s performance as “Khalil Katyusha”.

Best Supporting Actor for Ahmad Mehranfar’s performance as “Arshia”.

Best Director for Ali Atshani

Best Screenplay for Mehdi Ali-Mirzaei and Ali Atshani

Best Cinematography for Mahmoud Atshani.

Directed by Ali Atshani, ‘Katyusha’ was jointly written by the director and Mehdi Ali-Mirzaei, based on an outline by renowned film writer Mehrab Ghasemkhani.

The film depicts the story of two men from polar opposite social classes who have to spend a few days together. Khalil, an Iranian war veteran known as “Khalil Katyusha” on Instagram and Arshia, a corny but wealthy young man begin to clash on various issues during the time they are together.

Hadi Hejazifar, Ahmad Mehranfar, Mitra Hajjar, Linda Kiani, Mehran Rajabi, Khashayar Rad, Bijan Banafshe-Khah, Arjang Amir-Fazli, Leila Otadi and Qasem Zare make up the bulk of the film’s cast.

‘Katyusha’ is no stranger to US film festivals as it has appeared at the 2018 Crossover Film Festival as well as the 2019 Cobb International Film Festival.

The festival was also a participant at the 5th edition of India’s Rajasthan International Film Festival, winning the event’s Best Film award.

According to its website, LIFF seeks to “promote a week of love, peace, and healing through the art of cinema.”

The festival will be held September 18-21, 2019.

MB/AG