TEHRAN –Two Iranian films have won awards at the 43rd Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival, in Agrigento, Italy, the organizers announced on Tuesday. 

“The Breath”, a documentary by Behzad Rezaei, received Best Other Cinema Award, while “Unnamed”, a short documentary by Iranmerhr Salimi, won the School Award of the festival. 

“The Breath” depicts the loneliness and lack of communication between people during the Corona pandemic era and its impact on personal life, solitude and creativity of artists in different countries of the world. 

“Unnamed” revolves around the life of Zeinab, a talented volleyball player, who chooses to undergo a gender transition as she feels that her spirit aligns more with the male gender. However, in doing so, she is aware of the severe repercussions, including the end of her successful career due to her short stature and the loss of her sole source of income, which could potentially jeopardize her family's future.

Moreover, Iranian film “Punch Drunk” by Adel Tabrizi was also nominated in three categories including the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, but failed to win. 
 
Set in Tehran in 1996, the story of the film follows Mahtab who lives along with her 10-year-old child, Erfan. She is divorced from her husband, Morteza, who is in jail. Mahtab has enrolled her child in a karate class so that he does not end up like his father as far as his character is concerned. Erfan’s only interest is cinema and could not care less about sports. Hassan Khoshnud, the tough and serious karate instructor with his dictatorial methods causes Erfan to run away one day from the karate academy in the middle of exercises.

The tragicomedy won the best screenplay award at the 16th Cheboksary International Film Festival in Russia in June.

The cast includes Behrang Alavi, Hamed Behdad, Baran Kosari, Nader Soleimani, and Siavash Cheraghipour among others.

Over 150 short and feature films from 39 countries were in competition at this year’s edition of the festival, including Iran, Brazil, China, India, Russia, the U.S., and almost all of Europe.

In addition to the movie screening, the festival also included meetings with producers, directors and actors and the “Sport, cinema and medicine” conference.

Launched in 1979, the Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival is the oldest in the world of sports cinema, which promotes the diffusion of sports films and videos. The festival seeks to promote the best quality of sports image productions; organize meetings between productions, film distributors and mass media, and be a teaching tool for schools and universities.

Golden Paladin is the Sport Film Festival Award. The Paladino d'oro is awarded by the sports film academy, made up of illustrious personalities from cinema, journalism and sport. 

Photo: Iranian director Behzad Rezaei holds the Best Other Cinema Award for his film “The Breath” at the 43rd Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival held in Agrigento, Italy, on November 26, 2023. 

SAB/