TEHRAN-The winners of the 2nd Iranian Film Festival New York (IrFFNY) were announced on the last day of the festival, which was held from January 25 to February 2.

This year’s edition of the festival presented a selection of acclaimed and award-winning films from one of the world’s most vital and distinguished national cinemas. From the total of 20 feature and short films presented at the event, five titles won the festival awards, ILNA reported.

“Beyond the Wall” written and directed by Vahid Jalilvand was the big winner of the festival as it won the Special Jury Award and also shared the Audience Award with “Subtraction” by Mani Haghighi.

The third and latest film by Jalilvand, “Beyond the Wall” is about a blind man named Ali who attempts suicide, but is interrupted by his building concierge; he then tells Ali about an escaped woman, named Leila, who is hidden in the building. Ali becomes determined to help Leila.

The film stars Navid Mohammadzadeh and Amir Aghaei, who both worked with Jalilvand in his previous film “No Date, No Signature,” which won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor and Director at the 74th Venice Film Festival. The other members of the cast include Diana Habibi, Saeed Dakh, Danial Kheirikhah, and Alireza Kamali.

“Beyond the Wall” had earlier received several nominations at the 79th Venice International Festival and Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

The other movie that won the Audience Award, “Subtraction,” happens in downtown Tehran where Farzaneh, a young driving instructor, spots her husband, Jalal, walking into a woman’s apartment. When she confronts him, Jalal claims he was out of town for work. He decides to check out the building for himself. There, he meets a woman who is the spitting image of Farzaneh. Her name is Bita. Stunned, the two compare family photos: Bita’s husband also looks identical to Jalal.

Navid Mohammadzadeh, Taraneh Alidoosti, Ali Bagheri, Saeed Changizian, and Gilda Vishki are in the cast among others.

The Best Film Award went to “Empty Nets” by Behrooz Karamizade. An Iran-Germany co-production, it tells the story of Amir and Narges, who have found genuine love in their coastal hometown near the Caspian Sea. However, to gain the approval of Narges' wealthy family, Amir requires a significant amount of money urgently. Faced with limited options, he secures a job at a nearby fishery, embarking on a perilous yet profitable venture involving the illicit smuggling of black-market caviar.

Hamidreza Abbasi and Sadaf Asgari play the main roles in the film that won the special jury award at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech last July.

“A Childless Village” by Reza Jamali received the Artistic or Technical Achievement Award. As suggested by the title, the funny film-in-film comedy is about a small rural village, where no children have been born for a while and all the men assume that it is the fault of the women. 

Two decades ago, old filmmaker Kazem came to this remote rural village to make a documentary about the barrenness of the village women. But the village women wanted to protect their dignity, so they stole and burnt the footage.

By today, the villagers have found out that the men are sterile and there is nothing wrong with the women. With the help of his assistant, Kazem tries to record some interviews with the infertile men to unfold the truth in a new movie, but this turns out in many ways to be a Mission: Impossible.

The Best Short Film Award was given to “Nietzschean Suicide” written and directed by Payam Kurdistani. 

A suicide pharmacy owner tries to delay the suicide of the only midwife in his city until after his pregnant wife gives birth. Out of his efforts comes a novel suicide method that can revive his customers’ will to live.

Sal Galofaro, Tabassom Ostad, and Rory O’Brien play in the 15-minute flick

The Iranian Film Festival New York aims to unite two strands of Iranian moviemaking – the classic art-house Iranian cinema beloved by cinephiles around the world and new cutting-edge works that showcase the adventurousness and daring nature of younger Iranian directors.

SS/SAB