TEHRAN – Iranian filmmaker Nerges Abyar received the Director Achievement Award at the 5th International Women Filmmakers Festival on Sunday in Izmir, Turkey.

The award was given during the opening ceremony of the festival at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Cultural Center, the organizers announced.

Abyar is in Izmir to hold several masterclasses during the festival, which is organized by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Her films, including “Track 143”, will also be reviewed at the event.

In addition, Burcu Dabak Ozdemir, a lecturer at Yasar University, was given the Academy Achievement Award and Melis Behlil, an associate professor and chair of the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, received the Sevin Okyay Cinema Writing Achievement Award.

Abyar’s filmmaking has previously been regarded by other international centers. 

In 2020, she received the HUM Women Leaders Award at the Governor’s House in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

The HUM Women Leaders Award is presented to female achievers from Pakistan and abroad by the HUM Network Limited, a global entertainment and news network and one of the largest broadcasting brands with a strong following among South Asia diaspora around the world.

She also was named an honorary professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. She is collaborating on a joint film project about the Silk Road in China.

Her 2019 movie “When the Moon Was Full” received the audience award at the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia.

Photo: Director Narges Abyar in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW