TEHRAN – Iranian filmmakers Elaheh Nobakht and Negin Ahmadi are on the juries of the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival, which is currently underway in the Bangladeshi capital.

Nobakht is on the panel for the Women Filmmakers competition, which also features Turkish broadcaster Oya Dogan, Bulgarian filmmaker Yana Lekarska and Bangladeshi documentarian Mehzad Ghalib.

Nobakht, who is also the CEO of ELI Image, an international production and distribution film company, has been a jury member of various international film festivals such as the Religion Today Film Festival in Italy, 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 Toronto, Canada 2019.

The Iranian movies “Lady of the City” by Maryam Bahrololumi, “Here Yet Absent” Fariba Chupannejad, “Maryam’s House” by Mahbub Molai and “Atabai” by Niki Karimi are competing in this section.

Ahmadi is in the Interfaith Jury for the Spiritual Films Section. Belarussian film expert Igor Soukmanov, Indian scriptwriter and director Rajni Basumatary, and Bangladeshi actor and filmmaker Nader Chowdhury are accompanying Ahmadi on the jury.

Ahmadi is the director of the acclaimed documentaries “Connie Bell”, “Shirin Days”, “Zhivai” and “Zahra Goli” on the environment and social issues.

“Dream about Sohrab” by Ali Qavitan, “Holy Bread” by Rahim Zabihi, “The Last Breath” by Faraz Fadaian, “Anahid” by Hamidreza Alipur, “Grandmother” Fardin Ansarinejad and “Nahid” Samad Alizadeh have been selected to be screened in this section.

Over 20 movies by other Iranian filmmakers are also competing in the other sections of the festival.

In the Asian Film Competition, five films, including the acclaimed dramas “Walnut Tree” by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian and “Botox” by Kaveh Mazaheri, will be screened at the festival, which will run until January 23.

“Fathers” by Salem Salavati, “A Bumpy Story” by Kamal Tabrizi, and “On the Zero Line”, a co-production of Iran, Singapore and Japan directed by Mehrdad Ghaffarzadeh and Yoshimasa Jimbo, will also be screened in this category.

Photo: A combination photo shows Iranian filmmakers Elaheh Nobakht and Negin Ahmadi.

MMS/YAW