TEHRAN – “African Violet” has been the big winner of the 14th edition of the Annual Iranian Film Festival – San Francisco as it garnered awards in four categories, including best screenplay and best director.

Mona Zandi-Haqiqi was selected as best director for the drama, which also won the award for best screenplay written by Hamidreza Bababeigi.

The film tells the story of a middle-aged Shokuh who finds out that her ex-husband, Fereidun, has been placed in a nursing home by their children. 

She, and her second husband Reza, decide to take care of Fereidun themselves, but in their own home. In doing so, the relationship between Shokuh and Fereidun is significantly transformed. This new situation affects Reza and Shokuh’s daily life and unexpected changes take place in the lives of all three characters.

The festival was held virtually on September 18 and 19   due to the pandemic and the winners were announced during the closing day of the event.

Fatemah Motamed-Aria received the award for best actress for the portrayal of Shokuh.

The award for best actor went to Amir-Hossein Fat’hi for his role in “The Slaughterhouse” by Abbas Amini.

Mehdi Rezai won the best cinematography award for his collaboration in “Kulbarf” directed by Milad Mansuri.

“Duchenne Boys” was named best documentary.

The documentary is a personal narrative of its director, Sohrab Kavir, as, battling survivor’s guilt after the deaths of three of his brothers, he returns to Iran from the UK. Once there, he embarks upon an epic quest to form a virtual football team made up of young sufferers of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the same disease that took his brothers.

The award for best short was given to “Tattoo”, which also won Farhad Delaram the award for best director in the narrative short films competition.

The film is about a young woman who wants to renew her driver’s license but she is sent to the traffic police center for her tattoos.

“A Simple Examination” won the best screenplay award in the short films category. 

Written and directed by Meisam Saberifard, the film follows Shabnam and Pedram, who are about to get married, however, Pedram’s behavior causes Shabnam to be skeptical about marrying him.

Photo: Fatemeh Motamed-Aria acts in a scene from “African Violet” directed by Mona Zandi-Haqiqi.

MMS/YAW