TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (Mehr News Agency) -- The winners of
Iran's second edition of Cinéma Vérité Festival that took place in Tehran
(October 14 to 19) were announced on Saturday night during a ceremony held at
Tehran's Vahdat Hall.
The ceremony began
with a screening the short doc "Deed of a Letter" featuring the visit of Imam
Khomeini with "Mikhail Gorbachev," the former leader of former Soviet Union.
Afterwards, best
docs at the "Thirty Years Islamic Revolution" section of the gala were awarded.
They included "Deed of a Letter" by Mehdi Bemani, "Night Story" by Abbas Amini,
and "One Like Others" by Loqman Khaledi.
Afterwards came the
honoring of British documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock, who was attending the
festival and visiting Iran for the first time.
Documentary films
submitted by 86 countries were screened at the Competition and the
Non-competition Sections of the gala, and world-renowned documentary filmmakers
from different countries attended the festival.
Veteran
British documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock (2nd from R) receives a flower
from Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Mohammadreza Jafari-Jelveh
(2nd from L) after he was honored with a lifetime achievement award during the
closing ceremony of the Second Cinéma Vérité Festival at Tehran's Vahdat Hall.
Festival secretary Mohammad Afarideh (1st from L) and an interpreter are also
seen in the photo. (Mehr/Sara Sassani)
Following is the
list of the winners:
National
Section
* Best Short
Documentary: "Unfenced Square" (Mehrdad Zahedian)
* Best Middle-Length
Documentary: "Torqeh" (Mohammad-Hassan Damanzan)
* Best
Feature-Length Documentary: "Tinar" (Mehdi Moniri)
* Best Independent
Producer: Reza Fattah "Gravity"
* Best Researcher:
Mehrdad Zahedian "Unfenced Square"
* Best Narration:
"Unfenced Square" (Mehrdad Zahedian)
* Best
Cinematography: "Bulb" (Asghar Abgun)
* Best Editor:
Mohammad-Moin Karimoddini "Tinar"
* Jury Special
Award: "All My Mothers" (Ebrahim Saeidi and Zahavi Sanjavi)
* Festival's
Director Special Award: "Beaches of Tears and Olives" (Reza Borji)
International Section
* Best Short
Documentary: "Last Fitting" (Reza Haeri)
* Best
Feature-Length Documentary: "The Fortress", (Fernand Melgar from Switzerland)
and "The Existence (Marcin Koszalka from Poland)
* Jury Special Award
(Short Doc): "Lakshmi and Me" (Nishta Jain from India)
* Jury Special Award
(Feature-Length): "All My Mothers"
* Best Audience
Award: "Unfenced Square"
* Cinema Critic
Special Award: "Unfenced Square", "Tinar", and "The Red Rose Lady" Mojtaba
Mirtahmasb
* International
Honorary Diploma: "Vals" (Victor Asliuk from Belarus) and "Tinar"
The ceremony ended
with short speeches by documentary filmmakers and jury members including Khosro
Sinaii.
He expressed his
happiness on holding such event in the country and said, "Not all the seats are
taken tonight, but if the program continues like this, all the seats will be
filled some day."
He also expressed
his appreciation to the organizers and sponsors of the festival and said, "If we
did not have their support, such program would never be established in the
history of Iran's documentary cinema."
