TEHRAN – Iranian drama “Hit the Road” has been selected as best feature at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina.

Produced by Mastaneh Mohajer, the film received the Astor Piazzolla Award for best feature film on Sunday.

“A masterful film that continually surprises us during the course of a road trip that we share with a remarkable family whose tenderness, love and anxiety for an uncertain future is expressed both through communal songs and strange jokes, and through the uniquely expressive landscapes used to such powerful effect by the director,” the jury said in its statement. 

“The best feature film award is given in recognition of [director] Panah Panahi’s extraordinary achievement and the excellence and rigor of the four main actors who capture our hearts and our imaginations,” the jury added.

The film begins in the middle of nowhere, where an Iranian family makes a pit stop to bury the kid’s phone to avoid surveillance. Through several pit stops and encounters, we explore this family’s riotous dynamic and learn where their destination is.

The Georgian romantic drama “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?” won the special jury award.

Directed by Alexandre Koberidze, the film is about pharmacist Lisa and soccer player Giorgi, which find their plans for a date undone when they both awaken magically transformed, with no way to recognize each other.

Miguel Gomes and Maureen Fazendeiro won the award for best director for “The Tsugua Diaries” co-produced by Portugal and France.

Candela Recio for the Spanish docudrama “Who’s Stopping Us” (“Quién lo impide”) and Zelda Adams for the American horror film “Hellbender” won the Astor Piazzolla Award for best acting.

The Astor Piazzolla Award for best script went to Swiss drama “The Girl and the Spider” written and directed Roman Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher.

Lisa is moving out of the apartment that she’s lived in with her roommate Mara. As boxes are shifted, walls painted and cupboards built, abysses begin to open up, yearnings fill the room and an emotional rollercoaster is set in motion.

Photo: Hassan Majuni and Pantea Panahiha act in a scene from “Hit the Road”.  
 
MMS/YAW