Iran’s Hafez Awards announces 2 best actresses

The 17th edition of the Hafez Awards has named Elnaz Shakerdoust and Fatemeh Motamed-Arya as the best actresses.

Motamed-Arya and Shakerdoost received the honors during the Hafez Awards ceremony on August 13, 2017, respectively for ‘Abajan’ and ‘Mobarak’.

Directed by Hatef Alimardani, ‘Abajan’ is the story of a family in the 80s in Zanjan where their lives are dramatically influenced by the war.

Directed by Mohammad-Reza Najafi-Emami, ‘Mobarak’ tells the story of mythical characters taken from Persian poet Ferdowsi’s ‘Shahnameh’ (Book of Kings).

Born in 1962, Motamed-Arya is a graduate of the Tehran Art Academy.

In 1974, she attended music, painting, directing, theater, and puppetry classes held by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults and later began performing in plays and puppet shows for children across the country.

Her first work for television was in the puppet show ‘School of Mice’ in 1982. She made her cinematic debut with ‘Struggle’ in 1986.

She later became one of the most successful actresses in the nation, appearing in blockbusters such as ‘Red Cap and Cousin’, ‘Once Upon A Time’, ‘Confectioner Girl’, ‘Red Cap and Sarvenaz’, ‘Here, Without Me’ and ‘Stories’ from 1994 to 2013.

She was nominated for Fajr Festival Crystal Simorghs for Best Actress for ‘Robab’s Dowry’, ‘Reyhaneh’, ‘Blue Scarf’, ‘Love +2’ and ‘Gilaneh’.

She has won for awards at Fajr International Film Festival for ‘Wasteland’ in 1989, for ‘Passengers’ in 1992, for ‘Once And For All’ in 1993, and for ‘Spouse’ in 1994.

Born in 1984, Shakerdoust became interested in acting from elementary school and later received a degree in Theater from Tehran University.

Her acting skills in ‘Singles’ and ‘Who Killed Amir?’ made her nominated for two Iran Cinema Celebration Awards for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Shakerdoust has appeared in movies such as ‘Murder Online’, ‘How Much for You to Cry?’, ‘The Night Bus’, ‘Rules of the Game’, ‘Two Sisters’, ‘Carnival of Death’, ‘Ungrateful’, ‘The First Condition’, ‘Scandal’ and ‘Taboo’ from 2005 to 2014.

This edition of Hafez Awards commemorated Ali Moallem, the founder of the awards who passed away of a heart attack in March 2017.

The 17th edition of the Hafez Award ceremony was held at the Grand Hall of the Interior Ministry in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Saturday.

MG/MG