The Kurdish-language film ‘The Last Winter,’ produced by Salem Salavati, won two awards - including the Best Middle Eastern Feature Film and Best Feature Film Script - at the 14th edition of the Beirut International Film Festival (BIFF).
The director of the film dedicated the awards to the people of the Kurdish town of Kobani, who are under threat of attack by IS militants, MNA reported.
Prior to BIFF, the film had garnered awards at film festivals in Baghdad, Erbil, and Armenia.
Meanwhile, Rani Massalha, Palestinian-French director of ‘Giraffada’, won the jury prize for his feature film. The movie is based on a true story: one of the two giraffes at the local zoo in the Palestinian town of Qalqilya bumps its head against the wall out of fear and dies during an air raid on the town in 2002.
Best Actor
Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi and French actress/director Julie Gayet also won awards for best actor and best actress for their performance in ‘Most Wanted Man’. The film is directed by Anton Corbijn. A group of well-known actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe and Daniel Brule perform in the film. It is adapted from the novel by John le Carré and is a joint production of England, Germany, and the US.
The jury also awarded Kaouther Ben Hania the best documentary and best documentary director prize for her investigation into the identity of a ‘slasher’ who attacked women in the Tunisian capital with ‘Challat of Tunis’. The investigation into the war and uprising, shown in ‘Syria Inside’ by Tamer Alawam won the special jury prize.
Best short film award went to Ali Asgari’s ‘More Than Two Hours’, and Karim Rahbani’s ‘With Thy Spirit’ took the special jury prize in this section. Tofiq Amani’s ‘Ants Apartment’ took the second prize in the short film section, while Adnan Zandi’s ‘Butterflies’ and Celine Kotaiche’s ‘Le Miroir’ tied for third.
