Indian Culture Cinema awards Iranian films

The 2022 edition of the Culture Cinema, an Indian film festival that explores the world’s cultures, has awarded Iranian movies ‘Gilgamesh’ and ‘Red Wisdom’.

The award for the best film on mythology went to ‘Gilgamesh’ directed by Hossein Moradizadeh.

The animation tells the story of Gilgamesh, a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC.

He was possibly a king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified.

Produced by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, the film shows Gilgamesh failed in his sustained striving to obtain immortality.

However, he finds a plant with the power of rejuvenation that can help restore his youth, but a snake steals the plant after Gilgamesh leaves it on the shore while swimming.

The award for best film on philosophy was presented to ‘Red Wisdom’, also directed by Moradizadeh and produced at the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center (DEAFC).

The animated movie follows a bird that flies in the sky, lands near a spring and is trapped.

Ten men pull the nets and spin. In this rotation, the bird becomes a human. A man finds himself trapped in chains that extend to the sky.

On the way, he meets an old man with a long red beard and hair whose whole body is full of light. The old man shows the way to reach Qaf Mountain.

The Simorgh flies from its nest, the man follows him, opens his arms, and his hands grow into two wings. The Simorgh goes to a temple in the clouds.

The man finds his chain and opens it. The man flies in the sky with his wings, then sits by a pond and sinks slowly into the water.

When he comes out of the water, he turns into a bird again and flies away.

The Culture Cinema was held in a hybrid format on July 15-19.

The offline part of the festival was held at multiple venues of leading academic institutions, cinema chains, and cultural hotspots in India.

The closing ceremony of the festival was held on July 23.

MG/AG