TEHRAN-The Iranian feature film “The Wasteman” directed by Ahmad Bahrami and produced by Mohammad Hosseinkhani won an award at the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) in China.

Competing with 13 other films from Spain, Argentina, Germany, France, Japan, Bangladesh, Italy, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and China in the main competition section of the event, “The Wasteman” won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award on the closing ceremony of the festival on June 22, Mehr reported.

A 2024 production, “The Wasteman” is about a middle-aged wagon driver, of a determined demeanor, who trundles a corpse toward the cemetery of a strange, silent village bereft of all apparent life. 

Ali Bagheri is the sole actor in the 80-minute drama that had its world premiere at this year’s SIFF. With no dialogue, Bagheri focuses intensely on facial expressions, body language, and interaction with the environment during the film.

The movie serves as the final chapter of Bahrami’s “Waste Trilogy”. It continues the previous films’ use of long takes, black-and-white cinematography, and themes of struggle. In “The Wasteland,” a man facing imminent unemployment fights for his rights, while in “The Wastetown,” a woman imprisoned for killing her husband fights for custody rights. 

China’s longest-running and most internationally respected major cinema event, the Shanghai festival hosted an estimated 1,600 screenings of 461 films across its 10-day duration this year.

This year’s festival was held from June 14 to 23 and hosted masterclasses, debates on women’s position in the film industry, forums on story-telling and the development of the Chinese film industry, and numerous company presentations.

Founded in 1993, the Shanghai International Film Festival is the only competitive film festival in China approved by FIAPF.

SIFF focuses on awards, markets, forums, and film exhibitions to build an international platform and promote the development of the Chinese film industry.

In recent years, with the increasing growth of China’s economic strength and the rise of its international status, Chinese films have attracted more and more attention from people worldwide. SIFF, held in June annually, has become a great event for filmmakers worldwide, whose universal industry appeal, international influence, and effect on the world’s multicultural film culture and development of the film industry have also been praised by people inside and outside the industry.

SS/SAB