TEHRAN – Iranian movies have won awards at the Light to the World International Youth Film Festival in Rybinsk, Russia.

“The Rotation” by Hazhir As’adi and “Stars in the Rain” by Sara Namju each received a diploma of the 1st degree laureate in the animation category.

“The Rotation” tells the story of a country where there is a war between two tribes over claiming the sun in the sky. As a result of that war, the sun is annihilated and a volcano erupts. Those two tribes now are dead and a new sun is made, both done by the lava. Several centuries pass and the humans are still at war over claiming the sun in the sky.

“Stars in the Rain” is about a boy who draws paintings and joins passengers on a train in a city where it has been raining for years.

“Before Darkness” by director and writer Mosayyeb Hanai won the diploma of the 1st degree laureate in the foreign film category. 

The film tells the story of an Afghan woman with a little baby and a group of human smugglers who attempt to cross the Iranian border towards Europe. Since she does not have enough money to pay the fare for herself and her child, she is forced to hide her baby in a bag.

In the middle of the trip, however, the baby makes a noise calling the smugglers’ attention to her presence in the woman’s bag. They expel the woman from the car, but the woman’s wailing and begging forces them to give her one hour to come up with the fare for her baby, before it gets dark. As the woman is unable to come up with the money, she makes a harsh decision: she abandons the baby on the street in a border town.

The film won the award for screenplay and also brought Shahbanu Mohammadi the award for best actress. 

“Farrash” by Mohammad-Mahdi Fekrian won the diploma of the 3rd degree laureate in the video clip section. It also received the special diploma for originality.

“The Lower Floor” by Omidreza Kheirkhah was honored with a special diploma in the non-competitive program of the festival.

The Light to the World International Youth Film Festival, co-organized by the Rybinsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the National Fund for the Support of Copyright Holders, began its history in 2011.

Photo: Shahrbanu Mohammadi acts in a scene from “Before Darkness”.

MMS/YAW