TEHRAN-The Iranian film “Ocean behind the Window” written and directed by Babak Nabizadeh won the Best Feature Fiction Film award of the 13th CMS - Lucknow International Children's Film Festival, held in Lucknow, India, from April 15 to 21.

Nabizadeh’s first feature film won the award in the competition section where films from Spain, the UK, China, India, Switzerland, Pakistan, and Indonesia were also present, ILNA reported.

The film centers on a small and remote island where people live under hardship. Borhan is an adolescent who has made an interesting decision to help his family and to introduce the island. He collects a group, holds a carnival, and performs traditional music and theater for tourists. Their lives on the island improve and more tourists come, but there is a big problem on the way.

The cast includes Mohammad Azadi, Jafar Ghasemi, Hadiseh Karami, Mehran Mozafari, Hossein Ghanbari, Gholam Ranjbar, Hassan Zakeri, Bahram Komeijani, Kiana Ranjbar, and Ayoub Rahimi.

The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults as the producer, also known as Kanoon, has produced the film. It has been shot in Qeshm and Hengam islands in the Persian Gulf and some villages in the southern Hormozgan Province.

The 82-minute fiction has won several awards so far in domestic and international film festivals. It was picked as best children’s film at the 13th Annual Iranian Film Festival in the U.S. It has also won the UNICEF special award for the best children's film at the 32nd International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Iran, for depicting the humane, independent and dynamic nature of a child in thinking and decision making, providing a creative educational environment for every child especially those with disabilities, preserving the local culture and nature for children, and creative, artistic and outstanding cinematography and visualization.

Born in Tehran, Nabizadeh, 49, holds a B.A. in theater and dramatic literature. He has directed six short films, some of which have received awards at both national and international festivals. 

The CMS Lucknow International Children's Film Festival is one of the most popular festivals in India. Every round of the festival, it hosts thousands of children from various centers and kindergartens.

Organized by the management of City Montessori School, the festival aims at providing a common platform for the producers of children's films to project their views for the proper development of children’s potential through meaningful educative films, and also for promoting friendship and cooperation among people of the world.

SS/SAB