TEHRAN – The secretary of the 6th International Green Film Festival, Farhad Tohidi, jazzed up the closing ceremony of the event on Friday evening by his satirical remarks mocking those private and public commercial organizations over their unwillingness to take part in environmental movements. He also chided governmental personalities over their disregard of the festival, […]
TEHRAN – The secretary of the 6th International Green Film Festival, Farhad Tohidi, jazzed up the closing ceremony of the event on Friday evening by his satirical remarks mocking those private and public commercial organizations over their unwillingness to take part in environmental movements.
He also chided governmental personalities over their disregard of the festival, saying, “We held a meeting with ministers after screening DiCaprio’s ‘Before the Flood’, and some of the ministers were badly injured in a stampede of their colleagues!”
A handful of acclaimed films, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Before the Flood”, were screened at the six-day festival. The documentary covers his meetings with scientists, activists and world leaders to discuss the dangers of climate change and possible solutions.
The closing ceremony then went on with honoring winners at the Aseman Cultural Center in Tehran.
Chinese filmmaker Jiuliang Wang’s “Plastic China”, which is a portrait of poverty, ambition and hope set in a world of waste, received the Golden Gazelle for best feature-length documentary.
The film tells the story of a woman and her family that live next to a recycling plant in the midst of mountains of plastic waste from Asia, Europe and the U.S.
The award for best short documentary went to “Where Do We Go?” by Reza Majlesi, which warns about waste disposal and its environmental repercussions in northern Iran.
Iranian director Shirin Barqnavard’s documentary “Poets of Life” won the Golden Gazelle for Best Film with National View.
The film is about Shirin Parsi, an Iranian graduate of French literature from the University of Paris who returns home to work on her rice farm in northern Iran, where many farmers are forced to sell their lands at very low prices to developers.
“Leaf of Life” by Ebrahim Mokhtari, about a man who agrees to plant and harvest saffron to supply the rest of the money he needs to buy a house, won the best feature film award.
“Animal”, a story of a man who attempts to cross a frontier disguised as a ram, co-directed by Bahram and Bahman Ark, was named best short.
“Me + Her” by U.S. director Joseph Oxford was picked as best animation. The movie is about Jack and Jill of Cardboard City who are separated by Jill’s severe illness. Jack must think outside the box to assure they will be together again.
“We Can” by Gholamreza Yarkhalaji won the best experimental film.
