TEHRAN-Five Iranian films won awards at the 3rd annual Golden FEMI Film Festival held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 1.

The Best Picture Award went to “Motherless,” the debut feature film by Seyyed Morteza Fatemi, the Historical Excellence in Storytelling Award was given to “Killing A Traitor,” the latest film by the veteran filmmaker Masoud Kimiai, and the Best Documentary Award was presented to “All the Eyes” directed by Mohammad Abedi.

Moreover, “Kal Fatemeh” by Mahdi Zamanpoor Kiasari and “Echo” by Zahra Khorshidi Paji received honorable mentions from the festival. 

“Motherless” is about an educated, middle-aged couple, Amir Ali and Marjan, who lead a quiet life. When Marjan insists on renting a womb and a surrogate mother enters their life, unintentionally they go through different tests and face moral dilemmas.

Amir Aghai, Mitra Hajjar, Pejman Jamshidi, and Pardis Pourabedini are among the cast of the 84-minute film that was made in 2022.

“Motherless” has so far won several awards including Best Film Award at the Dhaka International Film Festival 2023, Best Narrative Feature Film Award at Crossing the Screen Film Festival 2023, Best Film Award at the Asian Competition of Bengaluru International Film Festival 2023, Best Director Award at Rainbow International Film Festival in 2023, and Best Foreign Language Film Award at Wales IFF 2023.

“Killing A Traitor” narrates a story about the time when the Iranian Oil Industry was to be nationalized. When the Iranian government faced budget deficits because the entire world stopped acquiring oil from the country, Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh asked the people for support. To help the Prime Minister, a group of university students decided to rob the National Bank of Iran.

Amir Aghai, Poulad Kimiai, Mehran Modiri, Farhad Aeish, Sara Bahrami, Narges Mohammadi, Pante’a Bahram, Reza Yazdani, and Sam Derakhshani play in the 120-minute film that was made in 2022.
 
“All the Eyes” is the story of the lives of children whose geographical determinism has created obstacles for them to achieve their dreams. Children who live in one of the country's deprived areas: Kotij, a city of 6,000 people in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in the southeast of Iran.

“Kal Fatemeh” is a 56-minute documentary about a woman with a speech impediment who lives on her own farm in the north of Iran, away from the village with her two sons. She runs the farm and rears cattle for a living, meeting many challenges. She grieves over her daughter’s situation, as she has had an unhappy past.

“Echo” is an award-winning 6-minute animation, produced on an environmental theme and a global view of it.

Golden FEMI Film Festival aims to develop a dynamic and vital artistic, critical environment and public dialogue to create and attract new audiences and to ensure accessibility and democracy in the audiovisual arts presentation, including underrepresented groups or those with specific needs.

The festival seeks to promote directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, sound engineers, and editors to create international co-productions.

SS/SAB