Fajr fest unveils Simorgh nomination roll

Fajr Film Festival in Iran unravels nominees for the Crystal Simorgh awards in various categories of the event.

 The nominations were released after the last screening held on Saturday around 24 hours before the fest closing ceremony, the PR office of FFF said.

The Best Actor in a Leading Role (male) category saw some very stiff competition, and the nominees include Amir Jadidi for ‘The Lost Strait’ and ‘Cold Sweat’; Amin Hayaee for ‘Flaming’, Babak Hamidian for ‘Underwater Cypress', Reza Attaran for ‘Confiscation’, Saeed Aqakhani for ‘Truck’ and Navid Mohammadzadeh for ‘Rusty Little Brains’.

The same holds true in the Best Actor in a Leading Role (female) category. The long list of nominees is made up of names such as Baran Kowsari for ‘Cold Sweat’ and Sara Bahrami for ‘The Woodpecker’, Shabnam Moghadami for 'Don't Be Embarrassed' and Mahoor Alvand for 'Istanbul Juncture'.

Crystal Simorgh nominations for Best Director represent a bevy of masterpieces. The announced candidates include Ebrahim Hatamikia for ‘In the Levant Time’, Bahram Tavakoli for ‘The Lost Strait’ and Behrouz Shoeibi for ‘The Woodpecker’, among others.

Best Film Crystal Simorgh could also be granted to ‘Bomb: A Love Story’, ‘In the Levant Time’, ‘The Lost Strait’, ‘The Woodpecker’, ‘Underwater Cypress’, ‘Truck’ and ‘Rusty Little Brains’.

Some other nominations in award categories of the event are listed below.

Best Cinematography Crystal Simorgh:

Mahmoud Kalari-‘Bomb: A Love Story’

Hamid Khozouie Abyane-‘The Lost Strait’

Alireza Zarrindast-‘Underwater Cypress’

Farshad Mohammadi-‘Cold Sweat’

Peyman Shadmanfar-‘Rusty Little Brains’

Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Sahar Dolatshahi- 'Istanbul Juncture'

Leyli Rashidi-‘Cold Sweat’

Negar Abedi-‘The Woodpecker’

Hoda Zeinolabedin-‘Cold Sweat’

Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Pejman Jamshidi-‘The Misunderstanding’

Jamshid Hashempour-‘The Woodpecker’

Siamak Ansari-‘Bomb: A Love Story’

Farhad Aslani-‘Rusty Little Brains’

Masoud Karamati-'Istanbul Juncture'

Navid Pourfaraj--‘Rusty Little Brains’

Crystal Simorgh for Best Special Effects:

Abbas Shoghi-‘Bomb: A Love Story’

Mohsen Rouzbahani-‘In the Levant Time’, ‘The Lost Strait’ and ‘Underwater Cypress’

Hamid Rasoulian-‘Mahoura’

Established in 1982, the Fajr International Film Festival celebrates cultural exchange, displays creative achievements of highly acclaimed cineastes and pays tribute to local and international films.

Since its establishment, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran and across the world every year.

The event kicked off on February 1, 2018 and is due to go on until February 11.

The closing ceremony will be held on Sunday at iconic Milad Tower in Iranian capital city of Tehran.

AG/AG