Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition of the festival was held online, August 21-30, ifilmtv.com wrote.

Directed by Ja’far Najafi, the 30-minute documentary narrates the story of a boy who herds a flock of sheep.

The boy’s biggest dream is to become a Hollywood star.

The boy, Asho, is under the influence of the Hollywood films that his cousin brought him.

‘Asho’ has participated in several festivals and received many awards, including a special mention at the 62nd International Leipzig Festival in Germany and the Best Film Award of the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The FFDL is an annual nine-day event, “dedicated exclusively to short films, documentaries, and full length features about the life, history, and traditions of the mountains,” according to the official website of the event.

The short animated piece, ‘Am I a Wolf?’, by Amir-Houshang Moein, won the Golden Dove for best-animated film, while the short documentary, ‘Asho,’ directed by Ja’far Najafi, received an honorable mention at the event.

‘Am I a Wolf?’ depicts a number of students who are performing a play called ‘The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats.’ The child who plays the wolf knows he will be defeated and feels lonely and irritated. He takes his role too seriously. There is a bit of chaos. In the end, the presence of other children and his friends next to him take him out of this gloomy atmosphere.

‘Asho’ is about a shepherd boy who is obsessed with Hollywood movies and wants to become an actor.

DOK Leipzig is one of the leading festivals for documentary and animated films, built on more than 60 years of history and tradition. The festival is a celebration of films with the highest artistic and innovative approaches to storytelling, embodying values of peace, tolerance, human dignity and freedom of expression, according to the event’s website.

The 62nd edition of the Leipzig festival was held on October 28 through November 3.