Iran’s ‘A Dragon Arrives’ grabs Seattle festival award

Iranian director Mani Haqiqi has won the Third Runner-Up award for the best director from the 43rd edition of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF).

Haqiqi received the award for directing ‘A Dragon Arrives’, which is a surrealist film set on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz.

It depicts an orange Chevrolet Impala that drives across a cemetery towards an abandoned shipwreck in the middle of a desert landscape. It is the 22nd of January, 1965, the day before the Iranian prime minister was shot dead in front of the parliament building.

The First Runner-Up award went to Justin Chon from the US for directing ‘Gook’ and Philippe van Leeuw from France received the Second Runner-Up award for making ‘In Syria’.

The Golden Space Needle Award for the best director was presented to Rodrigo Grande from Argentina for his film ‘At the End of the Tunnel’.

SIFF also screened ‘Taste of Cherry’ directed by late great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami and ‘Gholam’, a joint production of Iran and England by Mitra Tabrizian.

Launched in 1976, SIFF believes in film's unique power to share original stories, diverse perspectives, and rich emotional journeys.

The 43rd edition of the Seattle International Film Festival was held in the US city from May 18 to June 11.

MG/AI