TEHRAN – A lineup of 30 documentaries will be competing for the Avini Awards at the 14th edition of the Cinéma Vérité festival, Iran’s major international festival for documentary films.

The award has been established by the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC), which is the main organizer of the festival, to commemorate the martyr Morteza Avini, the writer and documentarian who chronicled the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war known as the Sacred Defense in Iran.

Documentaries on the Islamic Revolution, the Sacred Defense and resistance in the region will be competing for the award.

“More than My Mother” by Alireza Baghsheni, “Virtual Flags” by Hassan Jafari, “Birth of a Tragedy” by Hojjatollah Edalatpanah, “Deserted Houses” by Mohammadreza Abbasian, “The General” by Mohammad Talebi and “World of Javad” by Sadeq Ghafurain are among the documentaries.

Also included are “Gambling” by Mohammad-Mehdi Dezfuli, “Cross” by Ahmad Rahmanian, “Report of a Chaos” by Mohammadreza Giumchian and “Single Battalion” by Dariush Yari.

Morteza Avini, the acclaimed documentarian who was martyred by a landmine in 1993 when he was making a documentary about soldiers who were still listed as missing in action in the former Iran-Iraq war zone in southwestern Iran.

Avini rose to fame for “The Narration of Triumph”. He was considered a “master of martyred writers” by his colleagues and war veterans due to the fervent narrations he wrote for his documentaries.

Cinéma Vérité also plans to review a selection of documentaries acclaimed at 2020 international events across the world in a special section named “World’s Best”.

A number of top Iranian and international documentarians and critics will be holding online workshops and panel discussions during the festival.  

The international figures include Betsy A. McLane, Bill Nichols and James Bertrand Longley in addition to famous Iranian documentarians Mehrdad Oskui and Farhad Varahram.

Photo: A poster for Cinéma Vérité’s Avini Awards. 

RM/MMS/YAW