Special Award goes to ‘Fish on the Hook’

The Special Award of the Secretary at the 37th International Children and Youth Film Festival in Isfahan has been presented to ‘Fish on the Hook’.

At the closing ceremony of event, the Special Award of the Secretary was presented to Mohieddin Mozaffar, director of the movie which is a joint work from Iran and Tajikistan.

‘Fish on the Hook’ has been made with the participation of iFilm Network and Iranian and Tajik investors.

After receiving the award, Mozaffar said, “I am happy to be here. Today, there is a lot of talk about Iranian children. You children are lucky to have this festival. I congratulate the entire festival executive team and the hardworking people of this event. I consider myself a student of Majid Majidi. We have grown up with your films. On behalf of myself and the children of Tajikistan, I thank you for the films you have created.”

The film, produced in 2025, is written by Bakhtiar Karimov, produced by Amir Tajik and Mozaffar, and directed by Mozaffar. “You might think that a fish on a hook is always captive in the fisherman’s hand, unaware that the sea sometimes gives the key to freedom to a nameless child,” its synopsis reads.

In this work, the main roles are played by two prominent Tajik actors, Khorshid Mustafayev and Sayara Safrova. The director has introduced the young acting talent of Tajikistan Abdullah Abdulrahimzadeh for the first time in this film.

‘Fish on the Hook’ was recently unveiled at the IRIB International Conference Center and had its world premiere at the 30th International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience in Germany.

Other members of the film include senior producers: Ehsan Kaveh, Hamidreza Rouhani, Hossein Hamedanizadeh; contributors: iFilm Network, IRIB’s World Section and the Cicap Accelerator Company (from Iran), and the film production companies Dove and Tajik Film (from Tajikistan); art director: Valery Akhudov; director of photography: Andrey Fedotov; editor: Emad Khodabakhsh; composer: Fardin Khalatbari; sound engineer: Arash Qassemi; set designer: Lotflo Niamatov; make-up artist: Manijeh Kholova; set manager: Fereidoun Mozaffarzadeh; special effects supervisor: Tahmineh Askari; international affairs and marketing: Fatemeh Javahersaz; and media consultant: Sheida Eslami.