Rabat fest awards Iranian actress Elnaz Shakerdoust for ‘Titi’

The 2022 edition of the Rabat International Author Film Festival (FICAR – Festival International du Cinema D’Auteur de Rabat) in Morocco has honored Iranian actress Elnaz Shakerdoust for her role in ‘Titi’.

Shakerdoust shared the Moroccan award for best actress with Demyana Nassar for her role in ‘Feather’ directed by Omar El Zohairy from Egypt.

Directed by Ida Panahandeh in 2020, ‘Titi’ also received a special mention from the jury of the FICAR for presenting a new theme and a different image of Iran.

The 102-minute movie is a cinematic magical realism meeting hard-edged drama in a stunning look at the life of Titi, an Iranian Roma Gypsy who earns pennies cleaning hospitals, becomes a surrogate mother… and saves the world from a rogue black hole.

Working in a hospital, Titi encounters Ibrahim, a nuclear physicist suffering from a terminal illness. Taking a liking to Titi, he explains his work to her, and she believes that it is essential to the future of the planet.

When he slips into a coma, his wife demands his papers are discarded, but Titi takes them home, where her husband lines his rabbit cages with them.

‘Titi’ has so far gone on screen at a number of global events, including the Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan, the Fajr Film Festival in Iran, the Iranian Film Festival in Australia, the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival in the US, the Duhok International Film Festival in Iraq, and the Nouvelles Images Persanes film festival in France, where it won the audience award.

In addition to Shakerdoust, the cast list of the movie includes Parsa Pirouzfar, Houtan Shakiba, Soudabeh Jafarzadeh, Hanieh Kazemi, Mehdi Farizeh, Zeinab Shabani, Manouchehr Amiri, and Mahyar Daneshmand.

The FICAR Hassan 2 Grand Prix went to ‘Identifying Features’ by Fernanda Valadez from Mexico, while ‘Little Palestine’ by Abdellah Alkhatib received the special jury award.

The festival is dedicated to the Author cinema, a true cinema of art and thought in all its forms, to brave films, demanding, intelligent, even radicals who destroy the clichés; films that have an urgency and personal writing dedicated to humanity in all its forms.

The 26th edition of the FICAR was held on February 11-19, 2022 in Morocco.

Read more:

Iran’s ‘Ti Ti’ unveils teaser trailer

Nouvelles Images Persanes awards ‘TiTi’

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