TEHRAN – Iranian films have been among the big winners at the Literature Illusion Film Frames Television and Theatre (LIFFT) India Awards by garnering fourteen prizes.

The LIFFT India Awards, which was held online for the second consecutive year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the winners on December 25.

Yaser Ahmadi was selected as best director for his movie “Saralish” in the feature film awards category.

Cinematographer Ali Hosseinzadeh was given the VK Murthy Award for his collaboration in the film.

Nazanin Karimi was crowned best actress for her role in “Zaferanieh near Sunset”, a dark drug drama directed by Mohammad Astim.

Nasim Adabi, another star of the film, also won the best supporting actress award.

The Mangesh Desai Award for best sound designer went to Arash Qasemi for his collaboration in “Hot Scent” directed by Ali Ebrahimi.

Iranian filmmakers also won several awards in the LIFFT India Short Film Awards category.

“Holler”, also known as “Havar”, was named best children’s short film.

Directed by Musa Hajinejad, the film is about a little girl in a village near Halabja, who stands by a tree near a high valley and plays with her scarf. A boy who is the girl’s playmate approaches her. The girl notices the presence of the boy. They look at each other and laugh. Then they run after one another away from the valley. They pass through the back alleys of the village and happily reach a house and enter its yard. The girl sits next to him and draws on the ground with the stick in her hand. A voice can be heard from inside the house. The girl goes home and looks inside the room. Inside the house is a marriage proposal party. We do not see anyone, but we hear from the voices that the bride’s father has agreed to the marriage.

The award for best director went to Milad Nasib-Sobhan for his drama “She is Similar to Me”.

The film also brought Sorush Emtiaz and Setareh Rezai the award for best production designer. Rezai and Emtiaz, who have also worked as costume designers in this film, won the award in this category.

Mehri Ale Aqa was named best actress for her role in “In Expectation of Light”, while Kamyar Daryakenari was picked as best actor for his role in “Nicki”.

The award for best child actor was given to Roza Ramezaninejad for “Running”.

“Bloody Cloth” directed by Vahid Biglari won the award for best film on women’s rights in the non-fiction film awards section.

In the student film awards category, Hashem Jahromi was named best director for “Sixteenth Week”.

Photo: Nazanin Karimi and Nasim Adabi were selected as best actress and best supporting actress for their roles in “Zaferanieh near Sunset” at the LIFFT India Awards.

MMS/YAW