TEHRAN- The 9th edition of the Madrese International Short Film Festival (MISFF) concluded on Saturday with a ceremony at Tehran’s Art Bureau, where the winners of the different sections of the event were honored.

During his address, Amirhossein Akhavan, the festival's secretary, revealed that in this edition, 64 percent of the participants were girls, while 36 percent were boys.

He highlighted the submissions from 39 countries worldwide and mentioned that the winners hailed from 24 provinces, with a total of 120 participants.

A total of 57 groups presented projects centered around storytelling and heroes, which were reviewed by the judges. As a result, 18 selected projects were awarded prizes, Akhavan mentioned.

Madrese (literally meaning school) festival was established in 2013 by a group of teachers who had concerns about teenagers' education.

At first, they tried to concentrate on a number of schools throughout the city of Tehran; but step by step and with great effort, they have expanded their work through the whole country during the 5th festival; maintaining themselves as the most important short film festival for students under 19.

The festival has cooperated with the Art Bureau since the third edition. This collaboration continued in a more serious form since last year, when the children and teenagers’ section of Art Bureau was launched. 

This section was the main organizer of the 9th edition of the film festival.

In this edition, 1294 works from all provinces of Iran were sent to the festival’s secretariat. The festival’s focus is on the works which have been made by students under 19.

MISFF is trying to prepare an appropriate environment for teenagers to grow by discovering gifted ones and educating them by great art teachers, and to introduce them to the world of art and cinema.

SAB/