TEHRAN – “A Warm Spell” by Japanese filmmaker Toshimichi Saito won the grand prix at the international section of the 32nd Tehran International Short Film Festival on Tuesday.

The short film spotlights a windy winter day in the Japanese countryside, where people gather to attend a funeral ceremony, during which they recover a sense of connection between brothers, strangers, the bereaved and the deceased.

Yoshihiro Nakayama, Counselor at the Embassy of Japan in Iran accepted the Grand Prix on behalf of the filmmaker who was not present at the award presentation ceremony, which was held in Tehran’s Art Bureau on Tuesday evening.

The event was attended by a large number of cineastes and officials including Cinema Organization of Iran (COI) Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi and the festival’s secretary Farid Farkhondekish, who is also the director of the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS).

The jury panel composed of international cineastes Andrzej Bednarek from Poland, Matthias Flugge from Germany, Seigo Tono from Japan, Gipsy Chang from China and Alireza Shojanuri from Iran selected the best films competing in the international section.

“Everything Will Be Okay” by Patrick Vollrath from Austria took the award for best fiction.

The best animation award went to “Shop of Song Birds” by Anatoliy Lavrenishin from Ukraine, and “Touch of Freedom” by Sardar Arshad Khan from Poland took the best documentary award.

The best short film award was given to “Eat my dream” by Jessica Durwald from Germany, and the jury handed their special award to “Struggle” by Masud Hatami from Iran.

“Electric Town” by Tony Mullen won the award for best film from Asian cinema, and “Sorahi” by Saeid Nejati from Iran won the award for best film from Islamic countries.

The award for best film against violence and extremism went to “Emerging Angels” by Abuzar Amini from the Netherlands.

Following the ceremony, two veteran filmmakers active in the short film genre, Kaveh Bahrami-Moqaddam and Rahbar Qanbari, were honored with lifetime achievement awards.

Fifty-three movies by filmmakers from 25 countries competed in the international competition section of the festival, which ran from November 11 to 17.

Photo: A scene from Japanese director Toshimichi Saito’s short movie “A Warm Spell”

RM/YAW
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