Shahr Int’l Film Festival announces winners

The 2022 edition of the Shahr (Urban) International Film Festival in Iran has announced the winners.

Winners of the eighth edition of the gala, annually organized by the Municipality of Tehran, were honored at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Friday.

The 99-minute Iranian child labor drama ‘Sun Children’ directed by Majid Majidi won the best feature award. It tells the story of a 12-year-old boy and his three friends. They work quite hard to financially support their needy families while they sometimes commit petty crimes to make easy money. Everything changes, however, when one of them is entrusted to find a hidden treasure underground, but he must first enroll at the Sun (Khorshid) School, a charitable institution that tries to educate street kids and children suffering child labor.

An honorable mention of the same section went to ‘Market’ by Indian director Pradip Kurbah. The film portrays the lives of everyday people with everyday stories, not dignified as heroes, but nevertheless people who make the lives of each other better.

The award for best short fiction film was presented to ‘Lone Wolf’, a co-production between Argentina and Belgium by Javier Beltramino. It tells the story of an immigrant who has promised his young son to talk to the teacher about an unfair scolding. He tries unsuccessfully to communicate in a language that he does not speak, but it is not the only disappointment he faces that day.

Turkish-Japanese film ‘Kodokushi’ directed by Ensar Altay received the award for best documentary feature. It tells the story of Norihito, who works at a company that cleans up the houses of people who die alone. He begins to question his own life and past due to all the lonely deaths he sees.

‘Homebound’, an animated documentary by Indonesian filmmaker Ismail Fahmi Lubis won the award for best short documentary. In the film, Tari longs to return home to Indonesia after working abroad in Taiwan for more than 10 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic strikes her plans unravel, revealing a lack of rights for vulnerable migrant workers and systemic misinformation.

The award for the best animation was given to short animated movie ‘Mondo Domino’ by French director Suki. In the animation, loggers happily hum as they cut down trees to be used as decor for a fashion show in a deafening noise of chainsaws. A contemporary satire in the form of a musical comedy and burlesque action, the cartoon leads us into a dizzying whirlwind of chain reactions as chaotic as they are grotesque.

Alireza Dehqan’s ‘Isatis’ from Iran took home the Urban Film Award. It is a documentary about one man’s journey to the desert in central parts of Iran.

In the national competition, the Urban Film Award was presented to screenwriter Pejman Teymourtash for ‘Lady of the City’ directed by Maryam Bahrololoumi. The film follows a woman who has been sentenced to life in prison for being a drug mule. After eleven years in jail, she is released from prison for a few days to attend her son’s wedding. The temporary freedom helps her see a new aspect of her life and that of her family before returning to prison.

The awards for the best actor and the best actress respectively went to Javad Ezzati (photo above) for his role in ‘The Loser Man’ by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian and Setareh Pesyani for her role in ‘Yadoo’ by Mehdi Jafari.

‘Private Meeting’ and ‘Sun Children’, both produced by Amir Banan, shared rhe award for the best film.

The Shahr International Film Festival is Iran's most important cinematic event related to urban management in promotion of appropriate urban and industrial life patterns.

It is organized annually by the Urban Image Institute, the Artistic and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality.

The Shahr Film Festival aims to identify creative and innovative cinematic works of urban life and create a platform for exchanging ideas and experiences among world cities.

Films that use an eloquent artistic vision to promote a blissful human life will be considered for the competition section, according to the festival's website.

The 8th edition of the festival was held on July 18–22, 2022.

MG/MG