Riverside filmfest adds ‘Ava’s Silence’ to official selection

The Riverside International Film Festival (RIFF) in the US has added Iranian short flick ‘Ava’s Silence’ to the official selection of its 2021 edition.

Directed and written by Seyyed-Qolamreza Nematpour, ‘Ava’s Silence’ will present Iran at the 19th edition of the Riverside event, along with Javad Daraee’s feature ‘Metamorphosis in the Slaughterhouse’.

‘Ava’s Silence’ narrates the story of a girl named Ava. She has to work in her ill father’s auto shop.

She is waiting for her brother to return from military service so she can marry her fiancé.

The cast list of the flick includes Mahshid Dalvand, Amir-Masoud Masoudi, Morteza Fallahi, Ilia and Ahoura Dargahi, Hamid-Reza Hafezi, Seyyed-Taha Najafinejad, Hassan Ahmadvand, Sobhan Mohammadpour, Faezeh Khansari, and Peyman Karamzadeh.

‘Ava’s Silence’ has so far gone on screen at a number of global events, including the 7th Gbeck Future Film Festival in Canada, the 1st Ealing Film Festival in the UK, where it won the awards for Best Film and Best Narrative, as well as the 2021 Cinephilia Flair Film Festival in India, where it grabbed the Best Screenplay Award.

This April, ‘Ava’s Silence’ also went on screen at the 54th Humboldt International Film Festival in the US.

Annually since 2002, the RIFF has brought the best in contemporary international and independent films to the southern California.

The RIFF seeks “diverse and challenging films of social upheaval, human conflict, and the boldness of the human spirit,” according to the official website of the event.

The 2021 edition of the event is scheduled for April 27-May 1.

MM/MG