TEHRAN – Iranian director Reza Mirkarimi’s award-winning drama “Castle of Dreams” has received nominations in three categories, including best script, at the 19th Imagineindia International Film Festival in Spain.

Co-written by Mohsen Qarai and Mohammad Davudi, the film is about two young children whose mother has just died, and their father, Jalal, after long years of absence, returns to sort things out, but he does not want to take the children with him.

Hamed Behdad was nominated for the award for best actor for his portrayal of Jalal while the film also was nominated for its music composed by Amin Honarmand.

Earlier in November 2019, Mirkarimi won the award for best director at the 56th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival while Behdad was picked as best actor at the Turkish event.

The Imagineindia festival was first scheduled to take place in the Spanish capital of Madrid during May, but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was postponed and will be held from September 24 to October 8.

Iranian actress Mahtab Keramati, the star of the acclaimed movie “Mazar-i-Sharif”, has been selected as the jury president. The jury also has Iranian filmmaker Mehdi Rahmani.

Keramati won the award for best actress at the 2015 Imagineindia for her performance in “Ghosts” by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui.

She also was named best actress at the International Film Festival of Tamilnadu in Chennai, India in 2016 for her role in director Hassan Barzideh’s drama “Mazar-i-Sharif” about Taliban terrorism in Afghanistan.

The jury also is composed of Indian film expert Modhura Palit, Polish filmmaker Hanna Polak, Afghan actress Leena Alam, Australian producer Bridget Ikin, Indian professor Anjali Monteiro, Kazakh filmmaker Olga Korotko, British-Indian writer and director Sandhya Suri, Kazakh producer Olga Khlasheva and German producer Daniela Creutz.  

The Iranian films “Old Men Never Die” by Reza Jamali, “A Man without Shadow” by Alireza Raisian, “The Warden” by Nima Javidi, “Driving Lessons” by Marzieh Riahi, “Dog” by Hesam Salehbeig and “Still” by Anis Naseri will be screened in the various sections of the festival. The films failed to receive a nomination in any category.

The Festival Imagineindia is mainly devoted to promote friendship and cooperation among the Indian Subcontinent, the rest of Asia and Spain, and along with it the European Union.

Photo: “Castle of Dreams” by Reza Mirkarimi.

MMS/YAW