TEHRAN – Iranian drama “Killing the Eunuch Khan” has won the Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival in the United States.

Directed by Abed Abest, the film is about a serial killer that uses his victims to kill more victims.

In this film, set during the war between Iran and Iraq, a father lives with his two daughters in a big, strangely haunted house in a nearly deserted city close to the border. 

One day, he leaves the girls at home alone in order to participate in a funeral ceremony. That same day, the city is struck by a bombing raid, and a bomb falls in his garden. From that point on, some sort of ghostly vibration unhinges his own reality, and the world of the dead seems to mingle with the world of the living.

Winners were announced last Friday. The 28th edition of the festival was organized in a hybrid format in Park City, Utah for physical screenings from January 20 to 23 alongside an accessible program of virtual screenings running from January 20 to 30.

“Hannah Ha Ha” directed by Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky was selected as best narrative feature.

The film is about Hannah who lives a content, hard-working life in the small town where she grew up. To her visiting older brother, she’s just wasting her time. As their summer together winds down, Hannah gets what wasting time really means.

The award for best documentary feature was given to “Forget Me Not” directed by Olivier Bernier.

In the documentary, parents and filmmakers Olivier and Hilda Bernier share the personal impact of NYC's segregated education system as they fight for their son Emilio’s right to be educated alongside his peers.

“Straighten Up and Fly Right” by Kristen Abate and Steven Tanenbaum received the Unstoppable Feature Grand Jury Prize.

In a funk, Kristen, a physically disabled New York woman, walks dogs for a living but dreams of being a writer and as her life unravels, she must make a choice to fall apart or straighten up.

Photo: “Killing the Eunuch Khan” by Abed Abest.

MMS/YAW