“Bitter Milk” crowned best film at Parvin Etesami festival

TEHRAN, Jan.7(MNA) -- Nasser Zamiri’s “Bitter Milk” added one more award to its record by grabbing the best film award at the Parvin Etesami Film Festival. “Bitter Milk” which is about the Aziz family and the many people of Afghanistan that have been displaced as a result of the war has won several awards in international and national festivals. The festival, which was held from January 2 to 5, named in memory of the Iranian poetess Parvin Etesami, is in its 6th national edition this year. It was elevated to an international event last year. The closing ceremony, held at the Andisheh Hall of Tehran’s Art Bureau on Thursday, was attended by several artists and officials. “On the Way of Villa” by Farnaz Qeisaripur was selected at the Best Feature Film in th Special Section of the festivial. In the Golden Lotus Section of the event, “I am Shirin” by Ruhollah Akbari and “Qaral” by Qader Farivar shared the prize for the Best Feature Film. In the Silver Lotus Section, Maryam Fathifar was awarded as the Best Director for her films “Venda” and “Together”. During the ceremony, the festival organizers paid tribute to Iranian actresses Leila Hatami and Golab Adineh as well as scholar Mahdieh Elahi Qomsheii during the closing ceremony. The festival also honored five nurses who were active during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) named Nahid Dinarvand, Azam Dabirian, Laleh Zarezadeh, Seddiqeh Hannani and Zahra Siahpust. Afterward the secretary of the festival Maziar Rezakhani explained about the festival saying that this edition was held in four sections and the secretariat received 900 films. He also expressed his thanks over support from Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Javad Shamaqdari, and Documentary and Experimental Film Center Director Shafi Aqamohammadian for holding the festival. Then Aqamohammadian went on stage explaining about the difficulties of holding thematic festivals in Iran especially on one of Iran’s renowned poetesses. “Over 500 female filmmakers submitted their films to the festival which is an important point,” the jury chairman of the festival Mohammadreza Aslani mentioned during the event. The Iranian Short Film Association, which is among the festival sponsors, also announced some films as winners during the ceremony. The association picked Elika Rezaii’s “The Memories I Loved” as the best short film of the event. Parvin Etesami (1907-1940) was born in Tabriz and composed her first poem in the classical style when she was only eight years old. She received her high school diploma from the American Girls’ School of Tehran and also taught at the school for two years. Her poems focus on themes of social awareness and the human aspect of life with simple yet insightful allegorical elements. There are no signs of romanticism or feminism in her works, although she lived in the period when Iran was beginning to modernize.