Italian Solidando awards ‘The Stain’ from Iran

The 4th Solidando Film Festival in Italy has awarded ‘The Stain’ from Iran.

Directed by Shouresh Vakili, the Iranian title won first prize at the Best Social Shorts Films category of the Italian event.

In this subtly portrayed metaphor about the aftermath of war, an old man repeatedly cleans the stain from a cinema screen; a stain that mysteriously reappears after each screening.

The 12-minute flick is about an ex-soldier who works in a movie theater.

He tries to remove a blood stain that appears on screen every time a war film is played.

But the more he fights with the stain, the bigger it gets until it drips onto the floor and leaves a puddle.

‘The Stain’ has been screened at some global events, including the "One Shot" International Short Film Festival in Armenia and "The Wild West" FreedomFest 2019 in the US.

Another Iranian short, ‘Flying Fishes’ by Mohammad Torivarian, also received an honorable mention at the social short films section of the Solidando.

Torivarian’s film is about a new teacher in a village, who finds out the only girl in his class has a cigarette burn on her hand. He tries to understand what happened to the girl but the girl doesn’t speak.

Established in 2004, the Solidando Film Festival is a no-profit international competitive festival of short films with a maximum length of 20 minutes that include the genres: documentary, fiction or animation exclusively on social themes.

The festival has a commitment to help low-income countries, improving educational growth and reduce social disadvantage through specific projects, according to the event’s organizers.

The 4th Solidando Film Festival was held in Cagliari on December 20-22.

Read more:

Solidando Film Festival praises ‘Flying Fishes’

MG/MG