TEHRAN -- “Standing in the Dust”, Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian’s biopic on Iranian war hero Ahmad Motevasselian, won the award for best film at the 14th International Resistance Film Festival in Tehran on Friday evening.

“The movie was selected as best film by a unanimous vote,” jury member Ahmadreza Darvish said during the closing ceremony of the festival at Milad Tower.

The International Resistance Film Festival is organized annually during the Sacred Defense Week to commemorate the anniversary of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

“I asked cultural officials to support filmmakers in this field,” the secretary of the festival, Mohammad Khazaei, said in a short speech at the ceremony.

He proposed that the government should establish a fund for the filmmakers.

Austrian filmmaker Marko Nabersnik won the best director award for his 1st World War drama “The Woods Are Still Green”.

Lebanese director/writer Mai Masri received the award for best screenwriter for “3000 Nights”, about a young Palestinian woman who fights to protect her newborn son, survive and keep hope alive in an Israeli prison.

In the international competition two filmmakers were honored with special jury prizes. Syrian director Basil Al-Khatib received that award for “Syrians” and Iranian director Hassan Barzideh won the prize for “Mazar-i-Sharif”.

The best actress award was presented to Merila Zarei, the star of Majid Esmaeili’s directorial debut “The Little Black Fish”. She received the award for her portrayal of Shahrzad, the wife of a member of an Iranian leftist group who is killed in a guerilla war in northern Iran during the 1980s. 

Parviz Parastui won the award for best actor for his role in Ebrahim Hatamikia’s political drama “Bodyguard”.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi faction, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, was also selected as the Resistance Person of the Year at the festival.

He received his award from IRGC chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Basij Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi.   

Photo: Abdel-Malek al-Houthi (L), the leader of Yemen’s Houthi faction, receives the award for the Resistance Person of the Year from IRGC chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari during the closing ceremony of the 14th International Resistance Film Festival at Tehran’s Milad Tower. Basij Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi is also seen in the photo. (Mehr/Asghar Khamseh) 

MMS/YAW