The third edition of SalaMindanaw International Film Festival will be held in the Philippines with 13 films, including an Iranian production.
The event, slated for November 18 to December 2, will hold two sections of Asian full-length competition and Asian short film, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iranian short film ‘Elegy’, written and directed by Yousef Kargar, will vie with 6 other works from Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
Elegy has so far attended more than 50 festivals and garnered several awards. Produced by the Urumia (capital of West Azarbaijan Province in northwest Iran) office of Iranian Youth Cinema Society, it received a nomination for the 2016 Academy Awards after winning the Jury Award for Best Foreign Short at the 3rd Summer Slam Film Festival (SSFF) 2015, in the US.
The 29-minute film narrates the story of an old man who has been waiting for the return of his missing son for 25 years.
The Philippines Festival is anchored on its mission to be a mirror (salamin) of peace (salam) in Mindanao (the second largest and southernmost major island in the Philippines), thus the name SalaMindanaw.
It is recognized by NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), an organization established in 1990 and based in Sri Lanka which has since become the leading platform for the discovery and promotion of Asian cinema around the world.
