The Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) is a manifestation of Iran’s cultural diplomacy with the capacity of building close contact with the world nations.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the 33rd FIFF at Vahdat Hall on Saturday (May 2), Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati said “cinema which is pain-healing and evokes man’s conscience is favored by all freedom-lovers and justice-seekers across the globe.”
Over 200 foreign guests at the festival have stepped into “the land of a several thousand-year-old civilization which is the global cradle of culture,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
“The elevation of knowledge, culture and art is not possible without ideological engagement with other nations,” Jannati noted, adding that in this connection, the movie industry, which plays an undeniable role in the field of culture, is a phenomenon which “remarkably contributes to materialization of the objective.”
He underlined that the festival tries to allay the psychological needs of mankind suffering from identity crisis. “Iranian movies are the flag bearers of genuine Islamic ideology to get rid of the contemporary world’s identity crisis.”
Jannati hoped that following the Iran-P5+1 final agreement, favorable changes will be evident on the international scene, and consequently, FIFF will witness more global appeal.
“Contribution of cinematographers from five continents shows Iran welcomes diversity of ideas as far as they are centered on themes Iran cinema is globally known for, that is morality, peace, friendship, and family values,” he stressed.
The 7-day event comprised three sections of competition, out-of-competition and retrospectives. The competition section included three subcategories of Islamic and Asian countries’ cinema (East Panorama), world cinema (Salvation), and Art and Experience. A total of 42 films were screened during the festival.
Awards
Later in the event, Crystal Simorgh Awards were given to the winners of different sections, where films from India, Turkey and the host, Iran, won top prizes.
In the world cinema section, ‘Siddharth’, Indian-Canadian drama film directed by Richie Mehta won the best film award.
The award for the best director went to the Turkish filmmaker Faruq Haji Hafizoglu, for ‘The Adventurers’.
The award for the best original screenplay went to the screenwriters of ‘Factory Boss’, a 2014 Chinese film directed by Zhang Wei.
Master Govardhan of India won the award for the best actor for starring in ‘Unknown Names’ a film by the renowned Indian director Bijukumar Damodaran. Amir-Hossein Asgari of Iran won the jury special award for his film, ‘Borderless’.
In the East Panorama section, ‘Norjmaa’ by Bayaneruul from China won the best movie award. The best directing award went to Elchin Musaoglu ftrom Azerbaijan for his film ‘Nabat’.
The award for the best screenplay went to ‘What’s the Time in Your World’ from Iran by Safi Yazdanian. Marat Oripov from Azerbaijan won the best actor award for playing in ‘Teacher’ by Nosir Saidov.
Also another special award was given to ‘Men Who Save the World’ by Liew Seng Tat from Malaysia.
In the Art and Experience section, Houman Seyedi from Iran won the award for the best film for ‘Confessions of My Dangerous Mind’.
The festival also had three special awards selected by five Muslim actresses. The award for the best young talent went to Ali Molla-Gholipour for directing ‘Sugar-Bowl of Dowry’.
The French director Michel Hazanavicius won the special award for ‘nations convergence’ for his film ‘The Search’. And Golden Flag of the festival was awarded to Sadyk Sher-Niyaz from Kyrgyzstan for directing ‘Queen of the Mountains’.
