Film director and producer Reza Mirkarimi has been selected as one of the four jury members for the main competition at the 39th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), slated for June 22-29 in the Russian capital.
The other jury members include Italian actress Ornella Muti, Finnish director and producer Jorn Johan Donner and Spanish director and screenwriter Albert Serra, ISNA reported.
Mirkarimi’s selection comes after last year’s festival where he was a big winner. Participating with his latest film ‘The Daughter’ in the 38th edition, he picked up the Golden George Award for best film. Further, the lead actor in the movie Farhad Aslani also won best actor award.
His fifth film, ‘As Simple as That’ also won the Golden George Award for best film, at the 2008 festival.
Born in Tehran, Mirkarimi, 51, studied graphic arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran. He has made eight feature films in 18 years, all winning multiple awards locally and globally. All in all, his films have won 40 awards so far from festivals in Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Brazil, India, Spain, Estonia, Morocco, Russia, Australia, France, Canada and Czech Republic.
Three of his films have been presented to the Oscar’s the Best Foreign Language Film by Iran: ‘So Close, So Far’ (2005), ‘A Cube of Sugar’ (2011) and ‘Today’ (2014); however, none were among the final nominees.
Since 2016, Mirkarimi has served as the festival director of Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival.
A new section has been added to this year’s MIFF, where VR (virtual reality) movies will be presented for the first time. Virtual reality refers to the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can interact in a seemingly real or physical way with a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.
At the event, audiences will wear a VR headset to see the picture and become a part of the films they are watching.
