TEHRAN – On Sunday, the acclaimed Iranian documentary “Parizad” added one more win to its global honors at the 62nd Krakow Film Festival in Poland.

Directed by Mehdi Imani Shahmiri, the film was granted the Don Quixote Award by the International Federation of Film Societies (FICC) Jury consisting of Eugene Dugan-Brause from the United Kingdom, Ritesh Basak from India and Karolina Nowacka from Poland.

The film is about Aunt Keshvar, a lonely rural woman who weaves an unknown and nearly forgotten fabric named “Geleej”. She shares information about the role of Geleej in the daily life of the villagers and legends about her homeland.

“Parizad” has been screened at dozens of international events garnering the highest accolades, including the best documentary award at the 2021 Festival of Nations in Austria and the award for best short documentary at the 16th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival in Russia.

The FICC Jury also decided to give its special mention to “Love, Dad”, a co-production between Czech and Slovakia directed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen.

Jarmo Jääskeläinen, a Finnish journalist, producer and director who is best known for his documentaries on Poland, was posthumously honored with the Dragon of Dragons Award.

The Golden Horn for the director of the best feature documentary was awarded to Denis Dobrovoda for “The Cathedral” from Slovakia.

The film is about a man who builds a gigantic cathedral using waste and recycled materials for 60 years with no help or architectural expertise. He works mostly alone, without ever drawing a single sketch, while his community labels him a madman.

The Golden Dragon for the director of the best short documentary went to Jay Rosenblatt for “How Do You Measure a Year?” from the USA.

The film follows a father who films his daughter every year on her birthday, asking the same questions. In a mere 29 minutes we see a girl go from a toddler to a young woman with all the beautiful and awkward stages in between while the father/daughter relationship evolves in all its complexities.

Photo: Aunt Keshvar in a scene from the short documentary “Parizad” directed by Mehdi Imani Shahmiri.

MMS/YAW