TEHRAN – The 5th International Green Film Festival honored its winners in various sections during a closing ceremony held at Tehran’s Aseman Cultural Center on Friday. 

The ceremony was attended by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Department of the Environment Director Masumeh Ebtekar and dozens of cineastes and environmental activists. 

The award for best short film went to “Wound” from Iran. The directors of the film, Alireza Salmanpur and Yunes Tarrahi, also won the award for best director. Salmanpur, Tarrahi and Jafar Shakuri are the producers of the film. 

“Killing Mother” directed by Hojjat Tarrahi and produced by Mohammad Shakibania also emerged as a big winner as it won the awards for best film and best director in the feature-length documentary section. 

“The Orchard Keepers” by Irish director and producer Bryony Dunne won the best short documentary.

Iranian documentarian Alireza Dehqan won the award for best director in the section for “Owsia” that is about ancient aqueducts in the central Iranian city of Yazd. 

The jury special prize in the short documentary section went to filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn from the U.S. for “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret” that uncovers the most destructive industry the earth is facing today. 

“Suddenly the Wing” produced by Edris Samani was crowned best animation while Simone Giampaol from the UK bagged the award for best director in this section for his “Espero?”.

“OMEVA–Water” by Sarah Sandring from Germany and Oshosheni Hiveluah from Namibia won the jury special prize. The documentary is about water scarcity on the border between Namibia and Angola.

Actors Reza Kianian and Fatemeh Motamed-Arya are the ambassadors of the festival that aims to raise awareness about conservation of the environment and protecting limited water resources across the country.

The 5th International Green Film Festival was held in Tehran and several other Iranian cities from May 13 to 20.

Photo: A winner (R) receives an award from Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the closing ceremony of the 5th International Green Film Festival at Tehran’s Aseman Cultural Center on May 20, 2016. (Mehr/Hossein Esmaeili) 

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