TEHRAN – Iranian movies “Gilgamesh” and “Red Wisdom” have won awards at Culture Cinema, an Indian film festival that explores the world’s cultures.

Directed by Hossein Moradizadeh, “Gilgamesh” was selected as best film on mythology at the closing ceremony of the festival on July 23.

The animated movie tells the story of Gilgamesh, a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified.

Produced by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, the film shows Gilgamesh failed in his sustained striving to obtain immortality. However, he finds a plant with the power of rejuvenation that can help restore his youth, but a snake steals the plant after Gilgamesh leaves it on the shore while swimming.

The animated film “Red Wisdom”, also directed by Moradizadeh, won the award for best film on philosophy.

The film follows a bird that flies in the sky, lands near a spring and is trapped. Ten men pull the nets and spin. In this rotation, the bird becomes a human. A man finds himself trapped in chains that extend to the sky. On the way, he meets an old man with a long red beard and hair whose whole body is full of light. The old man shows the way to reach Qaf Mountain. The Simorgh flies from its nest, the man follows him, opens his arms, and his hands grow into two wings. The Simorgh goes to a temple in the clouds. The man finds his chain and opens it. The man flies in the sky with his wings, then sits by a pond and sinks slowly into the water. When he comes out of the water, he turns into a bird again and flies away.

The film has been produced at the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center (DEAFC).

The Culture Cinema festival was organized in a hybrid format from July 15 to 19.

The offline part of this festival was held at multiple venues of leading academic institutions, cinema chains, and cultural hotspots in India. 

“Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance”, a documentary by Irish filmmaker Ruan Magan, won the top prize of the festival.

This documentary tells the extraordinary story of how Irish dance developed over centuries from a traditional peasant dance to a form that has taken the world by storm and is enjoyed by tens of millions. The film shows how Irish dance has both been influenced by and influenced the dance of many cultures and how it developed as an expression of resistance.

Photo: A combination photo shows scenes from the Iranian animated films “Gilgamesh” and “Red Wisdom”.

MMS/YAW