Iran’s Roshd Int’l filmfest announces winners

The 50th edition of the Roshd International Educational Film Festival in Iran has announced the winners.

‘The Cocoon & Butterfly’ directed by Mohammad Salehinejad won the gold award of the event.

The film tells the story of Parvaneh, a seven-year-old girl who lives with her father in a village, where she lost her mother in a fire several years earlier.

Her leg was also injured in the fire and her father doesn’t let her go to school since it is a long distance from their home. He also doesn’t allow anyone to teach Parvaneh even basic literacy.

However, Yavar, a boy in their neighborhood, decides to teach her literacy furtively.

The film also won the Golden Butterfly for best feature film at the 33rd edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Tehran last October.

The silver award of the Roshd festival went to ‘Chor: The Bicycle’, a drama directed by Indian filmmaker Khanjan Kishore Nath and produced by Sanjive Narain.

‘The Eleventh Step’ by Maryam Kashkoulinia from Iran won the gold award for best animated film

The animation is about a little lion cub, born in a zoo. He lives in a cage that is only ten steps long.

On the eleventh step, he bangs his head against the bars, but one day the zookeeper leaves the cage door open. 

‘Autumn Winds, Spring Winds and Two Doves’ by Sadeq Javadi received the silver award in the animation section.

Produced at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the short animation is about a boy who sets out on an arduous journey to his friend. A dove and a horse help him reach his destination.

The award for the best short film of the festival was presented to ‘The Beginning’ by Indian filmmaker Sandeep Kumar Verma.

It depicts the journey of a kid, set in the mystical mountains of the Himalayas to learn where his grandfather has gone after he died and what happens after death.

Initiated in 1963, the Roshd International Educational Film Festival is the first International Film Festival in Iran.

It is centered on the films with educational and pedagogical themes and is staged every year by the Supplying Educational Media Center affiliated to Iran’s Ministry of Education.

The festival seeks the main objectives of identifying and selecting the best educational and pedagogical films in order to introduce them to the educational systems.

MG/MG