The film, ‘A Few Cubic Meters of Love,’ was the absolute winner of the 17th Celebration of Iranian Cinema, bagging eight awards including the best film, best director, best screenplay, best editing, best production design, best actor, best supporting actor and best debut director, on Friday.
On the occasion of the National Day of Cinema (Sept. 12), the ceremony organized by the House of Cinema, saw the best of local cinema produced in the past year awarded in different categories in the presence of over 4000 people at Masoudieh Palace near Baharestan Square, downtown Tehran, Mehr News Agency reported.
Out of 23 movies nominated in 18 categories, only seven films collected awards.
‘What’s the Time in Your World’ won three awards, and ‘The Whale’ and ‘Fish and Cat’ each shared two prizes. ‘Track 143’, ‘We Have a Guest’ and ‘Acrid’ took home one award each.
The awards including a statuette of merit and commendation plaque were presented to the winners by eminent cineastes.
The 100th birth anniversary of the oldest actor in Iran, Parviz Shahinkhu, was also held as part of the program.
“I have experienced a lot of ups and downs in cinema and theater but I endured all till tonight, as I can see the result,” Shahinkhu said. “I am in fact 105 or 106 years old and it is a strange thing to sing at this age just like the young! I want to sing for you tonight”.
He sang a song followed by loud applause from the audience and a birthday cake was cut on the stage in his honor.
The problem of Iran cinema is not financial but the lack of trust, said Homayoon As’adian, secretary of the festival.
“Cinema is not a tool to praise governments or cover up their inefficiencies; it is not a means of expressing people’s difficulties and demands; yet it is used to artistically describe the world,” As’adian said.
Inability to perceive social issues has led to distrust between officials and cineastes while working in the field of cinema needs boldness, he noted. “We all need to rehabilitate and to do so we require peace. So I implore everyone to take disputes elsewhere, as this venue is the culture neighborhood”.
Masoudieh Palace hosted this year’s celebration similar to the 2011 edition after which the ceremony was cancelled for two years, due to the closing of the House of Cinema by the previous administration.
In 2014, the ceremony was held at Tehran’s Milad Tower; however it differed from the previous editions as awards were not presented on stage; rather the awards’ presentation was shown on screen.
