TEHRAN -- The 19th International Resistance Film Festival has announced its winners, with Russian feature Baby Boy, Lebanese documentary A State of Passion and Jordanian short film Hind Under Siege among the productions recognized at the closing ceremony in Tehran.
The ceremony was held at Milad Tower’s convention center, bringing together filmmakers, artists, jury members and media representatives. The event was attended by Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani and festival director Jalal Ghaffari.
The festival presented awards across five principal areas: Iranian feature films, documentaries, short films, animation and international cinema.
International Competition
Russian filmmaker Andrey Simonov won the best narrative feature award for Baby Boy.
Lebanese filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi received the award for best feature documentary for A State of Passion, while Canadian-based filmmaker Rehab Nazzal won best short documentary for Vibrations From Gaza.
In the short narrative category, Jordanian filmmaker Naji Salameh received the award for Hind Under Siege.
The international selections reflected the festival’s focus on war, displacement, resistance and the human consequences of war, with Palestinian experiences featuring prominently among the recognized productions.
Iranian Feature Films
In the national feature competition, The Burning Plain received the best film award, presented to producer Kamran Majidi.
The film also secured the best directing award for Majid Esmaeili, as well as cinematography for Muhammad Sadegh Ramezani. Mohsen Shadibakhsh received the makeup award, while Masoud Sakhavatdoost won the music award for his work on both The Burning Plain and Migration.
The Successor received awards for visual and practical special effects. Arman Darvish was named best actor for his performance in the film.
Sara Hatami won best actress for The Bridge, while Kourosh Tahami received the supporting actor award for The Gambler. Zahra Moradi Kermani was recognized as best supporting actress for Migration.
The best first-film directing award went to Mohsen Bahari for The Gambler. Ismail Alizadeh received the editing award for The Land of Angels, which also earned the jury’s special award, presented to producer Manouchehr Muhammadi.
Additional honors included the

 Shahid Soleimani special award for Migration, presented to Mehdi Motahar, and the festival secretary’s special award for The Successor, presented to Ruhollah Sohrabi.
For screenplay, Farzad Ahmadi won the award for The Burning Plain. Bahjat Sharif received a special commendation and diploma of honor for The Gambler.

Documentary Awards
In the national documentary competition, Standing Beside the Thames, produced by Zohreh Najafzadeh, won best feature documentary.
Morteza Payehshenas received the best feature documentary directing award for A Small Waterway in the Hoor, while Aqil Jamaat’s Brick and Blood received a special commendation.
The documentary achievement awards recognized The Golden Corridor, by Seyed Hassan Seyedi Parishan and Vahid Kazemi, and I Am Jalal Al-e Ahmad, researched by Ali Akbari.
Motahareh Edalatkhah won best short documentary for 25 Years of Waiting.
In the short documentary directing category, Masoud Zareian received the award for Among the Fig Trees, while Behzad Alavi’s Seven Samurai received a special commendation.

Short Films
Bitura, directed by Faraj Salehi, won the best short film award.
Ehsan Abednia received the best directing award for The Prophet, while Hossein Jamshidi won best screenplay for Captain Torres.
The jury’s special award went to Under God’s Eyes, directed by Abolfazl Saei Mehrabani.
In the technical achievement category, Salamoon received the award for cinematography, while Cannibals was recognized for sound design.

Animation
Hadi Muhammadian’s Savior Ship emerged as the leading animation winner, taking both best feature animation and best feature animation directing.
The Legend of Sepehr received a commendation, while Elham Ebrahimi’s The Battle of the Kites won the special jury award.
In the short animation category, Rocket City, directed by Rasoul Azargoon, received the top award. Navid’s Adventures received a special commendation.
Mahva Studio was recognized as the festival’s best animation production studio.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, festival director Jalal Ghaffari highlighted the event’s international participation and efforts to expand access to resistance-themed cinema.
He said more than 1,900 works from approximately 100 countries had been submitted, demonstrating the continued international interest in stories addressing resistance and human resilience.
Ghaffari said the festival had expanded its screenings beyond its principal venue, with films presented in public squares and cultural centers. Screenings had begun in more than 20 Iranian provinces, and over 12 municipal cultural centers in Tehran had made their facilities available to the festival.
He emphasized that the closing ceremony would not mark the end of the screenings, which were expected to continue into the following week.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, addressing the ceremony, described resistance as a fundamental strategy rather than a temporary tactic.
He said that the concept should not be confined to military and defensive issues, but should also be explored through social, economic and cultural experiences.
Zakani identified faith, knowledge and creativity as important foundations of active resistance and said cinema could help preserve and communicate these experiences.
One of the ceremony’s most emotional moments came when documentary filmmaker Motahareh Edalatkhah dedicated her award for 25 Years of Waiting to children who survived the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab.
Edalatkhah said the documentary tells the story of the family of one of the students killed in the attack, but she wanted to use the occasion to draw attention to the continuing suffering of the surviving children.
She described the psychological consequences experienced by some of the survivors, saying that some children were still unable to sleep in their own homes because of their memories of the attack.
She also spoke about a boy named Sadra, who lost his sister in the incident and, according to the filmmaker, had been unable to speak for months following her death.
Edalatkhah said the effects of the tragedy had not ended with the attack and called for greater attention to the emotional and psychological needs of surviving children.
Hadi Muhammadian, director of Savior Ship, said the animation was created to help children who had experienced psychological trauma during war.
He emphasized that support for children affected by conflict should extend beyond emergency and humanitarian assistance to include their emotional and psychological recovery.
The 19th International Resistance Film Festival will continue its public screenings in more than 20 Iranian provinces following the closing ceremony.