Iranian ‘Rock’ wins award at Irvine Int’l Film Festival

Iranian title ‘The Rock’ has won the award for Best Short Documentary at the 2018 edition of the annual Irvine International Film Festival (IIFF) in the US state of California.

Directed by Hamid Jafari, the Iranian documentary recently grabbed the award in a close competition with ‘Knife Skills’ by Thomas Lennon that received an honorable mention.

The 25-minute documentary narrates the story of a woman who lives near the southwestern Iranian city of Ramhormoz.

Every day, she goes to the mountain with a sledgehammer and a crowbar in hand to smash and break the rocks so that she can sell them to provide for her family.

The documentary has so far taken part at a number of international film events, including the Matsalu International Nature Film Festival in Estonia and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in the US.

‘The Rock’ has won honors such as Best Documentary Short award at the 2017 edition of the New Orleans Film Festival in the US state of Louisiana.

The latest IIFF received some 100 films from around the world. Ranging from Oscar Award-winning directors to professors at film academies, 11 judges juried the films and picked the best for each of the 18 film categories.

The 2018 edition of the IIFF was held in California on January 24-31, 2018.

MG/MG