Iranian independent doc celebration announces winners

The 12th edition of the Independent Celebration of Iranian Documentary Cinema has announced the winners.

Only winners and some of the crew members were invited to the gala, which was held very limited due to the pandemic, at the Iranian House of Cinema on Friday.

Made by Sam Kalatari and co-produced by Mohammad Shakibania and Mohsen Shahmohammad-Mirab, ‘No Place for Angels’ received the awards for best documentary feature and best cinematographer (Reza Teimuri).

‘The Unseen’ brought best director award to Behzad Nalbandi.

The special jury award went to Firouzeh Khosrovani for making ‘Radiograph of a Family’, a co-production of Iran, Switzerland and Norway.

The award for best location sound record went to Shahin Pourdadashi for ‘No Place for Angels’ and ‘Woodgirls - A Duet for a Dream’.

Ensieh Maleki received the award for best sound engineer for ‘No Place for Angels’ and ‘The Unseen’.

The award for best editor was shared by Hayedeh Safiyari and Farahnaz Sharifi, respectively for ‘No Place for Angels’ and ‘Radiograph of a Family’.

‘Isatis’ directed by Ahmad Dehqan brought the award for best composer to Sattar Oraki.

Farhad Varahram won the awards for best research and best writer for ‘Return’. Shahram Derakhshan received the award for best narrator for the same film.

In the mid-length documentary category, the award for best film went to ‘Rashow’ by Reza Abbasi and Mojgan Sayyadi.

The jury of the section did not pick anyone as best director, but two honorable mentions were presented to Mehdi Zamanpour-Kiasari for ‘Kal Fatemeh’ and Baktash Abtin for ‘A Termite with Milk Teeth’.

Hadi Afarideh won the award for best short documentary for ‘Aqueduct’ and Mohsen Zarifipour was picked as best director for ‘Lullabies of Abu Hamizeh’ in the short documentary competition.

The 12th edition of the Independent Celebration of Iranian Documentary Cinema also honored documentarians Hamid-Reza Ahmadi-Lari and Sam Kalantari with lifetime achievement awards.

MG/MG