TEHRAN – Elaheh Nobakht, the producer of the acclaimed Iranian documentary “Beloved”, has been selected as a member of the jury of the 24th edition of the Religion Today Film Festival.

Nobakht, who is also the CEO of ELI Image, an international production and distribution film company, was also a jury member of various international film festivals such as the International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva in Switzerland, Beirut International Women Film Festival in Lebanon and Mena International Film Festival in the Netherland. 

Her documentary “Beloved” was screened at numerous international events, including IDFA and Berlinale, and took first place among the top five mid-length films selected by audience votes at the Hot Docs festival in Canada, Toronto, 2019.

She is also the distributor of the film “Finding Farideh”, a co-production between Iran and the Netherlands, which was Iran’s submission to the Oscars in 2020.

Diana Ashimova, the artistic director of Kazakhstan’s Bastau International Festival of Student and Debut Films, Turkish scholar Mustafa Cenap Aydin, Serbian writer and filmmaker Milijan Gocic, and Italian journalist Lidia Magni are the other members of the jury of the Religion Today Film Festival.
 
Nine movies by Iranian filmmakers will be competing in the festival, which will take place in the Italian town of Trento from September 22 to 29.

The festival’s scientific committee has decided to dedicate this year’s edition movies on travel and pilgrimage, the organizers have said and expressed their hope that soon COVID-19 will be defeated and people “can return to travel, see the world, meet faith and diversity.”

“The Festival wants to get back in motion, faithful to its nomadic soul, and reflect with the public and the many international guests on the power of the journey of faith, experienced precisely as a discovery and encounter not only of other faiths but of a deeper and more authentic spirituality,” the organizes added.

Photo: Producer Elaheh Nobakht in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW