TEHRAN – Iranian filmmaker Hassan Barzideh’s acclaimed political drama “Mazar-i-Sharif” has won the best film award at the Phoenix Film Festival Melbourne.

The film received the award in a category dedicated to movies with a budget under $250,000, the organizers announced last Thursday.

The film tells the story of the killing of several Iranian diplomats and a journalist by Taliban militants in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.

“Tatara Samurai” from Japanese director Yoshinari Nishikôri won the award for best film in a category dedicated to movies with a budget over $250,000.

The movie is about a young man in 16th century Japan who faces a dilemma of choosing between becoming a master steel maker like his father and grandfather or becoming a samurai so that he can help protect his village from attacks by the various clans.

In the no-budget under $250,000 category, the award for best film was presented to “Prahala” by Beni Adam from Canada.

Iranian director Javad Darai’s “I Don’t Like Her” won the award for best student film.

A trailer by Masud Farjam for Iranian director Abbas Rafei’s acclaimed movie “Oblivion Season” won the award for best trailer.

The film is about Fariba, an ex-prostitute who starts a new life by marrying her lover, but leaving the shadow of her dark past turns out not to be as easy as it had seemed beforehand.

Photo: Mahtab Keramati acts in a scene from “Mazar-i-Sharif”. 

MMS/YAW