ICFF 2019 wraps up, announces winners

The 32nd edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth (ICFF) in Iran has come to an end with announcing the winners.

The closing ceremony of the event was held in presence of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi, the Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar, the Governor of Isfahan Abbas Rezaee, and a number of officials, artists, and cinema enthusiasts in Isfahan on Monday night.

Best film award in the official competition section of the 32nd ICFF went to ‘Bille’ by Inara Kolmane from Latvia.

Based on a novel by prominent Latvian writer Vizma Belsevica, ‘Bille’ is about an extraordinary and creative little girl, who tries to comprehend the confusing adult world in Europe during the Great Depression in the 1930s. She tries to prove herself despite the lack of appreciation and love from her family.

The award for best director was presented to Mehdi Jafari from Iran for his movie ‘The 23 People’ ('The 23'). It is about 23 young Iranian volunteers who were held captive during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war.

The movie also won three other awards, including the awards for best film and best screenplay in the national section of the ICFF.

Matthias Pacht from Germany received the Golden Butterfly for best screenplay for ‘The Little Witch’ directed by Mike Schaerer.

The film is about a young but nice witch, who tries to learn everything there is to know about magic, with the help of her trustworthy raven, to become the best witch in the forest.

The awards for best feature-length fiction film and best animated film respectively went to ‘Hacker’ by Poul Berg from Denmark and ‘Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs’ by Edmunds Jansons from Latvia.

The Golden Butterfly awards for best short film and best short animated movie were presented to ‘Son of the Sea’ by Iranian director Abbas Jalali-Yekta and ‘Cloudy’ by Zuzana Cupova as well as Filip Diviak from the Czech Republic, respectively.

Indian director Priya Ramasubban grabbed a special jury award for his drama ‘Chuskit’. The drama is about a feisty paraplegic girl in a remote Himalayan village who dreams of going to school.

‘The Falcons’ directed by Bragi Thor Hinriksson and produced by Anna Vigdis Gísladóttir as well as Thorhallur Gunnarsson from Iceland received the jury prize of the International Centre of Films for Children and Youth (CIFEJ). The film is about a huge football tournament for kids.

In the national section, Alireza Akbari won the Golden Butterfly for acting in 'No-Fly Zone', Amir-Hossein Qahraiee grabbed the Best Director award for 'Bazivou', and Behrouz Rashad received the Jury’s Golden Butterfly for 'That Night’s Train'.

According to the 32nd ICFF website, the event aims to enhance the cinematic products of this age bracket and introduce the top works in national and international arenas.

The festival aims to promote ethical values such as family unity, appropriate lifestyle, respect for humanity, self-esteem, social responsibility, environmental protection and it also seeks to create awareness of the uprising future challenges.

The ICFF is organized annually by the Iranian Organization of Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs, Farabi Cinema Foundation and the Municipality of Isfahan.

The 32nd ICFF was held on August 19-26, 2019 in the Iranian historic city of Isfahan.

MG/MG