American Big Water fest honors ‘Better than Neil Armstrong’

The 14th annual Big Water Film Festival (BWFF) in the US has bestowed an award on Iranian short film ‘Better than Neil Armstrong’.

‘Better than Neil Armstrong’, written and directed by Alireza Ghasemi, grabbed the Audience Favorite Award at the 2022 American festival to mark its 21st international honor.

In his film, Ghasemi tells us the story of four kids who start their journey to the moon with the mission of finding a mysterious place called ‘The Redland’, but the gates of The Redland are being guarded by a mischievous snake.

‘Better than Neil Armstrong’ recently claimed the best film award at the Drama Section of the 2020 Southport International Short Film Festival in the UK as well as the best director award of the 6th Via dei Corti Independent Short Film Festival in the Italian city of Catania.

The short film has taken part in various global film events before — the 2020 Poppy Jasper Int’l Film Festival (PJIFF) in the US, the 18th Pune Int’l Film Festival (PIFF) in India, the 10th Lakeshorts Int’l Short Film Festival in Canada, the 13th Trenton Film Festival in the US, the 20th Izmir Int’l Short Film Festival (IISFF) in Turkey, the 5th Crossing The Screen Film Festival in the UK, the 10th  Visioni Corte International Film Festival in Italy and the 2019 Lund Int’l Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden, to name but a few.

Qasemi’s film is also the recipient of the Best Cinematography and the Best Movie Soundtrack awards from the 15th Nahal Student Short Film Festival in Iran.

Recently, ‘Better than Neil Armstrong’ grabbed the Best Student Short Film award at the 5th edition of the Las Cruces International Film Festival (LCIFF) in the US.

In January 2021, the short sci-fi flick will compete at the 2021 International Children’s Film Festival Bangladesh.

“We accept films of all genres and points of origin. Some of our favorite films have been made by local or Midwest filmmakers and some have come to us from all around the world, including Iran or France or Canada,” writes an online submission platform.

The 14th Big Water Film Festival was held virtually over eight weeks, running from January 7 to March 6, 2022.

MM/FM