TEHRAN – The Iranian short documentary “Karun – The Longest River of Iran” written and directed by Sahand Sarhaddi won an award at the 11th Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival, which was held from August 30 to September 6 in Yerevan, Armenia.

Among the 20 documentaries from 17 countries competing in the festival, four films received the top awards, Mehr reported.

“Karun – The Longest River of Iran,” a 2024 joint production of Iran, Switzerland, and Finland, the short documentary “The Oasis I Deserve” from France, as well as two feature-length films, namely “New Beginnings” from Belgium and “Wind Has No Tail” from Russia were the award winners.

A 19-minute movie, “Karun – The Longest River of Iran” is about the Iranian poet Hamid Hajizadeh and his nine-year-old son Karun, whose name symbolically refers to Iran’s longest river, who were brutally murdered in their home in Kerman in 1998. 

The documentary, based on the statements of the survivors, tries to sensitively reconstruct one of the many terrible, politically motivated events that took place in Iran at the end of the previous century, and draws us into the fateful day with the help of detailed shots of the objects in Hamid’s study.

Sahand Sarhaddi, 34, is a filmmaker and visual artist. He is an alumnus of “Berlinale Talent” 2023 and graduated in theater and dramatic literature at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran.

In 2006, he started collaborating with some publications as a photographer. His artistic work focuses on integrating untold stories in history, photography, music, and literature. His works have been featured in more than ten solo and group exhibitions (such as photography, video arts, and performance arts). He has also directed five short and feature films that have been screened in festivals in Iran, Switzerland, France, the UK, the U.S., Germany, Canada, etc.

Sarhaddi joined the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association in 2020 and is currently a member of its board. He is also a member of the House of Cinema.

Iranian filmmaker, researcher, and lecturer Hadi Afarideh was one of the jurors of the three-member jury of this year’s edition of the festival, along with the German director of the Goethe-Institute in Yerevan Jan-Tage Kühling Armenian/French director Serge Melik-Hovsepian.

Born in Tehran, Hadi Afarideh, 41, started his art career in theater in 1998 and in cinema in 2001 at the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS). He was chosen the best documentary filmmaker in the first specialized workshops of documentary filmmaking in Iran by the Documentary and Experimental Film Center and the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association in 2006.

Afarideh has participated in more than 140 Iranian and international festivals and won various awards for directing, writing, and research of his three short films and 19 documentaries.

He is a member of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association and the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA). At present, he teaches cinema directing and holds documentary filmmaking classes in the IYCS and the Iranian Contemporary Arts Academy.

Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival is held annually in late August - early September in Armenia. Since 2023, the festival has been taking place in the village of Debet.

It is as much a celebration of documentary films of all genres (ethnographic, experimental, animated, etc.), as it is a platform where filmmakers from around the world can meet and discuss ideas in a friendly atmosphere.

SS/SAB