TEHRAN – The Fourth Afghanistan International Women’s Film Festival – Herat in Kabul praised Iranian cinema on Wednesday evening by awarding veteran director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and actress Mahnaz Afshar.

Bani-Etemad received an award for her lifetime achievements while Afshar, who was a special guest of the event, was praised for two decades of acting and presenting a dynamic image of female artists, the organizers announced during the opening ceremony of the event on Wednesday evening.

Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya is a member of the jury of the festival, which comes to an end today.

Films from Turkey, France, Egypt, Italy, Britain, Belgium, Iran, Russia, the U.S., Germany, Portugal, South Korea and several other countries are competing in the festival.

Last year, “Oblivion Season”, Iranian director Abbas Rafei’s sward-winning drama about an ex-prostitute who starts a new life by marrying her lover won the best film award while “The Fried Fish” directed by Leila Khalilzadeh was named best animation, the organizers announced.

In addition, “Ants’ Apartment”, a short film by Tofiq Amani about massacre of 182,000 people in Iraq’s Kurdistan region by Saddam Hussain, was honored with the special jury award.

Photo: Veteran Iranian director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (C) accepts an award for her lifetime achievements at the opening ceremony of the 4th Afghanistan International Women’s Film Festival – Herat in Kabul on October 19, 2016. (Afghan News Agency) 

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