TEHRAN – Ida Panahandeh, the Iranian director of acclaimed movies “Nahid” and “Israfil”, has been selected as a member of the jury at the 7th Duhok International Film Festival in Iraq, the organizers have announced.

Panahandeh received the New Talents Award for World Cinema for her drama “Israfil” during the 6th edition of the Duhok festival in 2018.

She also won the Promising Future Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 for her debut film “Nahid”.

Justine Barda, the founder and Telescope Film CEO who is also the senior programmer of the Seattle International Film Festival, will preside over the jury for the World Cinema category of the Duhok festival, which will be held from September 9 to 16.

Turkish filmmaker Mahmut Fazil Coskun, Danish producer Marie Schmidt Olesen and Lebanese critic Hauvick Habechian are the other members of the World Cinema competition, which features ten films from Turkey, Sweden, France, Ukraine, Kosovo, Italy and several other countries.

“Gold Carrier”, also known as “Gold Runner”, by Iranian director Turaj Aslani will be competing in this section.

It is about Reza, a gold runner who delivers gold pieces after work to retailers. Delivering the gold as usual one day, he is held up by a group of gang members who hit him and steal the gold pieces. The owner of the retail business demands repayment, but Reza has no way to pay him back. Hearing from his friend Louie that there is an expensive jewel somewhere on the floor of a traditional toilet in the workshop, Reza uses the money from the aid group to bid on the workshop at an auction.

Photo: Director Ida Panahandeh poses in Paris on February 18, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images/Francois Guillot)

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