'Better than Neil Armstrong’ wins at Southport Short Filmfest

Iranian short film ‘Better than Neil Armstrong’ has claimed award at the Southport International Short Film Festival in the UK.

The short flick, written and directed by Alireza Ghasemi, attended the 1st edition of the Southport Short Filmfest where it grabbed the best film award at the Drama Section of the event.

‘Better than Neil Armstrong’ is the story of four kids who start their journey to the moon with the mission of finding a mysterious place called ‘The Redland’, but the gates of The Redland are being guarded by a mischievous snake.

The short film has taken part at various global film events before — the 2020 Poppy Jasper Int’l Film Festival (PJIFF) in the US, 18th Pune Int’l Film Festival (PIFF) in India, 10th Lakeshorts Int’l Short Film Festival in Canada, 13th Trenton Film Festival in the US, 20th Izmir Int’l Short Film Festival (IISFF) in Turkey and 2019 Lund Int’l Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden, to name but a few.

Qasemi’s film is also the recipient of the Best Cinematography and the Best Movie Soundtrack awards from the 15th Nahal Student Short Film Festival in Iran.

Recently, ‘Better than Neil Armstrong’ grabbed the Best Student Short Film award at the 5th edition of the Las Cruces International Film Festival (LCIFF) in the US.

Award-winning animation ‘Balance’ made by Barzan Rostami and ‘Room no. 13’ by Kasra Tirsahar were also Iran attendees at the Southport Short Filmfest. 

The festival is destined to become a significant annual event on the cultural calendar in the Northwest of England with the aim is to showcase the very best short films from around the world.

The opening edition of the film event was set for July 26-28, 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was held online.

MM/FM