TEHRAN -- The political documentary “Searching for Reality” won the best film prize of the National Section at the 4th Cinéma Vérité Festival during the closing ceremony at the Andisheh Hall in Tehran on Friday.

Directed by Siavash Sarmadi, the film queries the fate of Iranian photojournalist Kazem Akhavan and three Iranian diplomats Ahmad Motevasselian, Mohsen Musavi and Taqi Rastegar-Moqaddam, who were kidnapped by the Zionist regime in 1982 in Lebanon.
“Nénette”, on a 40-year-old orangutan that is locked behind bars, by French director Nicolas Philibert won the best film award in International Section.
The closing ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini, Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Javad Shamaqdari and a number of other cinematic officials.
Organizers of the festival honored two documentarians Morteza Sha’bani and Khosro Sinaii with lifetime achievement awards.
“I am delighted to get a prize from the Cinéma Vérité Festival,” Sinaii said after receiving his award.
He pointed to the festival’s motto, ‘Reality for All’, and added, “I want to tell the officials and the youth that the reality is like a ball of fire; if we are careless about it, it will burn us and others.”
Due to the motto, he asked the present officials to let the youth see reality with open eyes and to give them plenty of leeway.
“Be sure that films are made based on reality, since they are helpful not only in sustaining the society but also in documenting history. After all, who can show the reality better than a filmmaker?” he stated.
The following is a list of winners in the National Section:
Best Short Film: “Live Desert” directed by Hossein Safi.
Best Mid-length Film: “Ariobarzanes” by Khosro Heidari.
Best Cameraman: Hossein Safi (“Snails”).
Best Editor: Bahareh Khorrami and Roya Majdnia (“Dim Room, Twilit Window”).
Best Narrator: Shahram Derakhshan (“The People Who Have Everything, Everything”).
Best Sound Recorder or Sound Effects Artist: Akbar Ebrahimi (“Live Desert”).
The festival was held from November 8 to 12 in Tehran.