TEHRAN -- The Third Parvin Etesami Film Festival announced its winners here on Friday in a ceremony held at Tehran’s Art Bureau.

The festival was named in memory of the Iranian female poet Parvin Etesami and this year focused on the central theme of Sacred Defense.
The jury members Dariush Mehrjuii, Tahmineh Milani and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad announced the winners.
“Gilaneh” directed by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad won the special “Parvin” plaque for its theme depicting the role of women during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, named Sacred Defense in Iran.
“The Darkness of the City” by director Maryam Ketabforsuh Badri won best feature movie award, the documentary “My Bukhara” by Laleh Barzegar won best documentary award, “Closer than Breath” won best experimental film award and “Step by Step to the Moon” by Turan Kolivand won best animation award.
The awards in the above section included a cash prize, golden lilies and honorary diplomas.
In addition, silver lilies were presented for the feature movie “Blue Tooth” by Hooman Seyyedi and the documentary “Unison of the Scattered Orchestra” by Gholam-Abbas Fazeli.
In the Sacred Defense section, the top awards went to the feature film “Empty Closet” by Ali Bayat, and the documentary “Zero Degree Orbit” by Mahmud Rahmani. “Two Sisters” by Bijan Mirbaqeri won an honorary diploma in this section.
“Kuchnameh” by Mahnaz Mohammadi won the special jury prize.
Actresses Mahaya Petrosian and Zahra Vahedi won honorary diplomas for acting in “Black and White” and “Adam and Two Eves” respectively.
“A song for Luba” by Tufan Nahan-Qodrati won the best screenplay award in the section dedicated to movies with the central theme of “National Unity, Islamic Solidarity”