Iranian Cinema Verite announces winners

The 2020 Cinema Verite, Iran’s major international festival for documentary films, has announced winners tonight.

The winners of different sections of the 14th edtion of Cinema Verite, including Martyr Avini Award Section, Entrepreneurship Documentary Section, Coronavirus Special Section and National Section, have been announced online. 

3 top winners of Martyr Avini Award Section are as follows:

• Mahdi Shah Mohammadi won Golden trophy of Martyr Avini, diploma of honor, and the cash prize of 220 million Rials for his ‘Eighteen Thousand Fee’
• Hassan Jafari won Silver trophy of Martyr Avini, diploma of honor, and the cash prize of 200 million Rials for his ‘Immigrant Swallows’
• Ali Mohammad Zolfaghari won Bronze trophy of Martyr Avini, diploma of honor, and the cash prize of 180 million Rials for his ‘Ramadi Report’

3 top winners of Coronavirus Special Section are as follows:

• First Prize went to ‘Pesgholeh’ directed by Majid Sheida
• Second Prize went to ‘The 19th Block’ directed by Masoud Dehnavi
• Third Prize went to ‘Impasse’ directed by Javad Yaqmouri and Mahdi Amini

3 top winners of Entrepreneurship Documentary Section are as follows:

• First Prize went to ‘The Unfinished Way’ directed by Mostafa Razaq Karimi
• Second Prize went to ‘F-A’ directed by Farshad Ektebashi
• Third Prize went to ‘It Is Raining Under This Umbrella’ directed by Katayoun Jahangiri

Winners of National Section:

• Best Narration Writing Award went to ‘Taher’ by Amir Masoud Hosseini
• Best Sound Award went to ‘Dry Pond Dragonfly’, Arash Qasemi
• Best Researcher Award went to ‘Iranian Animation’ by Mehrdad Sheikhan
• Best Music Award went to ‘Last Breathes’, Kiavosh Saheb Nasaq
• Best Edit Award went to ‘Houbara’, Mostafa Gandomkar, Sogol Moradi
• Best Cameraman Award went to ‘Kal Fatemeh’ by Davoud Rahmani
• Best Short Documentary's Director Award went to ‘Brother Form the Barrens’ by Ali Asadi, Rasoul Davari
• Best Semi-Length Documentary's Director Award went to ‘Kal Fatemeh’ by Mahdi Zamanpour Kiasari
• Best Feature-Length Documentaries' Director Award went to ‘Fill in the Blanks’ by Atiyeh Zare Arandi
• Best Documentary Award went to ‘Fill in the Blanks’ by Atiyeh Zare Arandi

Due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the festival was organized entirely online while the international section of the festival has been non-competitive this year. 

The Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) organizes the festival every year which showcases the very best of the documentary world to bridge the gap what they term between reality and truth.

The closing ceremony during which the winners were announced was held today on December 23, 2020.

PR/MM