TEHRAN-The winners of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) were announced on Friday at the IFFR Award Ceremony in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where the Iranian film “The Old Bachelor” written and directed by Oktay Baraheni won one of the main awards.

The 192-minute drama, which had its world premiere at the festival, won the VPRO Big Screen Award, ISNA reported.

On selecting the film as the winner, the jury stated: “Gripping from start to finish, this film left a strong impression on the jury long after it had ended. Exploring powerful themes of patriarchy, misogyny, love, violence, and tragedy, this film is a masterclass in storytelling, through its gripping, nuanced dialogue, exquisite attention to detail, and its development of tension, which simmers throughout the film until it reaches boiling point in the final, explosive act. It is a deeply visceral cinematic experience that takes you captive along with its characters as their world encloses around them. We are sure that the viewers will appreciate the powerful performances from the central cast, who so captivatingly portray a family at breaking point.”

The movie tells the story of two middle-aged brothers who live with their bullying father. A man prone to rages and driven by chauvinism, the father’s abusiveness found his second wife leaving him and now he picks on his eldest son. When the man rents out the flat above to a young woman, with intentions of marrying her, the woman’s attraction to the older son slowly pushes this profoundly damaged family to breaking point.

Leila Hatami, Hamed Behdad, Hassan Pourshirazi, Mohamad-Reza Davoudnejad, Reza Rouygari, Mohammad Valizadegan, and Babak Hamidian are in the cast among others.

The Big Screen Competition presented a selection of 12 titles at this year’s festival, bridging the gap between popular, classic, and arthouse cinema. “The Old Bachelor,” as the winner of the section, receives a guaranteed theatrical release in the Netherlands and will be broadcast on Dutch TV by VPRO and NPO. The award is accompanied by a €30,000 ($32,500) prize, shared equally between the filmmaker and the distributor who will release the film.

In the IFFR’s trademark Tiger Competition section, which celebrates the innovative and adventurous spirit of up-and-coming filmmakers, the jury granted three prizes. “Rei” by Tanaka Toshihiko from Japan won the Tiger Award, and “Kiss Wagon” by Midhun Murali from India won and “Flathead” by Jaydon Martin from Australia won the Special Jury awards. 

Since its foundation in 1972, the IFFR has maintained a focus on independent and experimental filmmaking by showcasing emerging talents and established auteurs. The annual film festival also places a focus on presenting cutting-edge media art and arthouse film, with most of the participants in the short film program identified as artists or experimental filmmakers. The IFFR is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno.

SS/SAB