TEHRAN-The Iranian film “No Prior Appointment” directed by Behrouz Shoeibi has won two awards at the 19th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival, held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, September 5-9.

The movie won the best feature film award as well as the award for the best actress in the leading role for Pegah Ahangarani, IRNA reported on Monday.

The acclaimed drama tells the story of an Iranian emigrant who, after 30 years, is compelled to return to her home country upon learning of her estranged father’s death. She hastily takes leave from her work as a doctor in Berlin, Germany, bringing her young autistic son with her, which makes the trip challenging for her. She achieves a new understanding of humanity and death during her short travel to Iran and meetings with her father’s friends.

Shoeibi explores the ideas of return, leftover threads of memory of a land, and the sense of self that was once left behind. With nuanced grace, the film explores the longing for homeland, the questions of belonging, and the strange sense of homecoming upon returning to the country of your childhood. The social drama also focuses on introducing Autism in the best way to the audience.

Mostafa Zamani, Elham Korda and Saber Abar are on the cast list of the flick along with Pegah Ahangarani.

“No Prior Appointment” was the winner of the Golden Saint George for best film at the 2022 Moscow International Film Festival.

The Kazan International Muslim Film Festival has been held since 2005. It aims to facilitate the exchange of experiences among workers in the cultural and arts sectors of Russia and Muslim countries from nearby and distant lands. It also seeks to showcase the creative accomplishments of Muslim filmmakers and representatives of other religious backgrounds, who produce films that promote human, spiritual, and moral values, as well as cultural traditions. Moreover, it aims to foster a more accurate understanding of Muslims and Islam within the global community and Russian society.

The films reflecting human, spiritual and moral values as well as cultural traditions, supporting the ideas of peacemaking, tolerance and humanity regardless of the nationality and religious affiliation of the authors are selected for the festival.

This year's festival received 712 applications from 44 countries. The contest program included 52 film titles from 21 countries including Iran, Algeria, Greece, Egypt, India, Morocco, Russia, Syria and Turkey among others.

Other Iranian films were among the winners of the festival during the previous editions including “Tear of the Cold” by Azizollah Hamidnezhad and “M for Mother” by Rasoul Mollagholipour.

SS/