TEHRAN-A total of 28 Iranian films, series, and animations, feature and short, have been selected by the 35th Girona Film Festival in Spain, which kicked off in the city of Girona on November 7.

Among the notable works attending the festival are the series “Lily's Turn” directed by Ruhollah Hejazi, feature-length animated movie “Loupetoo” by Abbas Askari, and short animated films “The Lovely Sky” and “Being Ten” by Amir Mehran and Fatemeh Jafari respectively, Honaronline reported.

In “Lily's Turn,” the main character Lili, through a mysterious book, discovers that she and her family have lived in many times and places, and now it is Lily’s turn to decipher the book and find a valuable painting of her ancestors to make a choice that gives meaning to all these lives.

The fantasy romance drama series stars Pardis Ahmadieh, Hamid Farrokhnezhad, and Merila Zarei among others.

Hejazi, 44, is a director, writer and producer. He directed his first short film “Start” in 1995, then followed up with ten more, shown at domestic and international festivals. He directed television dramas before making his debut feature film “Among the Clouds” in 2008, which garnered several awards at festivals around the world. His second feature film “The Private Life of Mr. & Mrs. M” (2012) and Third Film “The Wedlock” (2013) were shown at numerous international film festivals too. 

His other movie “The Dark Room” (2018) was named best film at the 5th Hanoi International Film Festival and Kerala International Film Festival. In addition, he has won the best screenplay award at Asian Film Festival Barcelona for the film.

In the award-winning animation “Loupetoo,” Mr. Kamali, the owner of a sanitarium, treat the patients by teaching them to make toys. The toys are creative, so they are very attractive for the children. But the toy studio is shut because of sabotage and it leads to patients’ critical mental status. While Mr. Kamali efforts bear no results, an angel of hope appears to help him.

“Loupetoo” has won awards at several international festivals, including the award for best animation film at the 2022 Ahmedabad International Children Film Festival in India.

A production of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), “The Lovely Sky” is a 14-minute 2D animation, dealing with the issue of war.

The Iranian work follows an impatient fighter pilot who bombs cities every day. He returns to his little girl every night after completing his mission. The girl loves to fly, but the father doesn’t fulfill his daughter’s dream because of the bitter memory of his wife’s death. The war is getting closer every day. One day an incident changes their lives, forever.

Produced in 2022, it has so far won the best animation prize at the 52nd Roshd International Educational Film Festival in Tehran, Best Music at the 18th Vancouver Island Short Film Festival in Canada, and Best Animation in Itauna International Film Festival in Brazil.

Amir Mehran, 42, has an M.A. in animation directing from Soore Art University in Tehran. He has made several short animations so far and won awards at various international film festivals, including Warsaw, ANIMA, Grand OFF, Interfilm Berlin, Banja Luka, Cinefiesta, Imperia, Short Soup, Silk Road, and Noor among others.

Another production by the IIDCYA, “Being Ten” is about a father and his ten-year-old son who live in a lonely cottage in the middle of a dense wood. The father, a hunter, spares one of his prizes and brings it home as a present for his son. What, at first, was just a plaything forever will change the young boy's life.

The 18-minute animation recently won the third prize of the 11th international festival Constantine's Gold Coin in Serbia.

Fatehmeh Jafari, 46, graduated from Tarbiat Modares University with an M.A. in animation. She has begun her been active as an animator, script writer and director since 2005. 

The short animations “Dance of the wolf” by Behzad Yaghmuri, “Dear Animal” by Younes Kafashian, “Absurd Machina” by Reza Arzhang, “The Melody of Loneliness” by Samira Azimian, and “King’s Garden” by Iraj Mohammadi Razini are also among the Iranian works present at the event.

Dedicated to talent, especially emerging talent, the Girona Film Festival is a platform to show short films, feature films, documentaries, animations, video creation (experimental art), and music film (video clips).

The best in each category will be awarded at the closing ceremony on November 12.

SS/SAB