Iranian short ‘Raheel’ wins US award

Iranian short ‘Raheel’ has won an award at the 2019 East Northeast International Film Festival (ENE) in the US.

Written, produced and directed by Ayat Asadi-Rahbar, the short film received Spotlight Award at the 2019 ENE.

The 30-minute flick tells the story of Raheel, an Afghan national who has illegally traveled to Iran to look for her husband, but there comes up some problems that leave her no hope to move ahead.

The 2019 ENE also screened ‘The Last Embrace’ and ‘The Man Who Forgot to Breathe’ by Saman Hosseinpour, ‘Starvation’ by Zahra Rostampour, ‘Are You Volleyball?!’ by Mohammad Bakhshi, ‘Birthday Night’ by Omid Shams, ‘Slow Death’ by Amin Sahraee, as well as ‘Slaughter’ co-directed by Saman Hosseinpour and Ako Zand-Karimi, all from Iran.

The Iranian lineup also included ‘The Old Man and the Dead’ by Amir Falaki, ‘In Perspective’ by Arshia Zeinali, ‘Déjà vu’ by Nasim Forouq, ‘Not Acceptable’ by Saman Haqiqivand, ‘Utopia’ by Mehdi Qorbani, and ‘Who Eats My Friend’ by Ali (Milad) Aqazadeh.

Most of the Iranian titles went on screen during the festival’s Spotlight section which was dedicated to Iran.

“Talent does not discriminate. Throughout the submission process we have discovered a vein of gifted and talented filmmakers coming out of Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran has long been shrouded in propaganda and political rhetoric. We at ENE aim to showcase a different side of Iran where politics and propaganda have no foothold. This year, we are honored to showcase the works of these young and visionary Iranian filmmakers, and celebrate their courage and spirit at our multi-cultural event,” ENE website wrote.

The ENE celebrates independent films, music, and the green technology industry all at the crossroads of the future to be a part of a diverse and creative global community.

The 2019 ENE was held on October 10-14 in Newburgh, New York, the US.

MG/MG