TEHRAN – Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani’s short documentary “Karun” about the environmental threats to Iran’s limited water resources over the long term has won the Green Planet Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) in the United States, the organizers have announced.

“Celebrating the vision of man’s shared humanity and achieving sustainability on our planet,” the jury said during the closing ceremony of the festival, which took place in several cities of the American state from August 6 to 11.

The film portrays the rich cultural landscape the river Karun passes on its way – once the Iranian river most abounding in water. It also shows the devastating effects of improper water management on fish stocks, on unique biotopes and on the local ethnic groups.
 
The grand prize in the feature film completion went to the Ecuador-France co-production “A Son of Man” directed by Jaimaica Noproblem.

The Canada-Cuba co-production “Havana on High” by Pedro Ruiz won the grand prize in the feature documentary section.

Five other films were screened in various section of the festival.

Among the movies was “Umbra”, a narrative short by Saeid Jafarian about a young woman who is looking for her missing partner at midnight.

“Brotherhood” by Javad Yaghmuri, “Ceremony Night” by Behnam Abedi, “The People Smuggler” by Amir Reza Jalalian and “Birthday Night” by Omid Shams were also screened at the event. 

Photo: A scene from filmmaker Mohammad Ehsani’s short documentary “Karun”.

MMS/YAW