During the closing ceremony of the 67th Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival held in the German city on Sunday, the Grand Newcomer Award Mannheim-Heidelberg for the best fiction feature film went to the Iranian film ‘Orange Days’ directed by Arash Lahooti. Lead actress Hedieh Tehran was given special praise for her outstanding performance in the film.

‘Orange Days’ also received the International Film Critics Prize given by the FIPRESCI Jury, as well as the Ecumenic Film Prize.

The film director, Arash Lahooti, could not attend the festival due to lack of cooperation from the German embassy for granting him a visa in time. The awards, therefore, were received by the film’s lead actor Ali Mosafa.

‘Orange Days’ narrates the story of “Aban, an overworked contractor in her forties, is dead set on outbidding her male competitor Kazem to harvest, with her crew of seasonal female workers, the largest orange orchard in the region.”

The 67th Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (IFFMH) was held on 15-25 November 2018. It is considered the second-oldest film festival in Germany after Berlin.

Iranian fiction-feature ‘Orange Days’ will take part in the competition section of the 19th edition of Calgary International Film Festival in Canada to enjoy its second international screening, after premiering at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival on 6-16 September.

‘Orange Days’ narrates the story of “Aban, an overworked contractor in her forties, is dead set on outbidding her male competitor Kazem to harvest, with her crew of seasonal female workers, the largest orange orchard in the region.”

TIFF describes ‘Orange Days’ as an “empowering fiction-feature debut from documentary director Arash Lahooti [which] stars Hadieh Tehrani as a tough-as-nails farm contractor proving she can compete, against unfair odds, with male competitors and lead her crew of female workers on northern Tehran’s largest orange harvest.”

The Calgary International Film Festival is a 12-day showcase of up to 200 multi-genre feature and short films from Canada and over 40 other countries. Calgary Film is now the largest film festival in Alberta and is the sixth largest in Canada, according to the event’s website.

The 19th edition of the festival will be held on September 19-30, 2018.

TIFF describes ‘Orange Days’ as an “empowering fiction-feature debut from documentary director Arash Lahooti [which] stars Hadieh Tehrani as a tough-as-nails farm contractor proving she can compete, against unfair odds, with male competitors and lead her crew of female workers on northern Tehran’s largest orange harvest.”

Arash Lahooti’s ‘Orange Days’ showcases an inspiring performance from Hadieh Tehrani as a woman struggling to prove her worth in a man’s world, TIFF adds.

‘Orange Days’ narrates the story of “Aban, an overworked contractor in her forties, is dead set on outbidding her male competitor Kazem to harvest, with her crew of seasonal female workers, the largest orange orchard in the region.”

Arash Lahooti is the director of documentary features ‘Trucker and the Fox’, ‘Hero and the Cloak’, and ‘Pale Blue’. ‘Orange Days’ is his first narrative feature film.

Founded in 1976, the Toronto International Film Festival is considered as one of the largest and most prestigious events of its kind in the world. The festival describes itself as a “charitable cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film.”

The 43rd edition of the event will be held on 6-16 September 2018 in Toronto, Canada.