TEHRAN (Honaronline) – Iranian movie “Pari” has won the Golden Cyrus Cylinder for the best feature-length film at the 7th Iranian Film Festival Zurich, Switzerland.
The film follows Babak, an Iranian student in Greece, who doesn’t show up to welcome his visiting parents at the Athens airport. Pari and her older husband, both devout Muslims abroad for the first time, are ill-prepared to search for their son in an intimidating and alien environment. All their attempts to find a clue that might lead them to him prove to be in vain and they soon reach a dead end. However, Pari can’t give up looking for him, even when returning to Iran seems like her only choice. Following the steps of her rebellious son in the darkest corners of the city, she will exhaust her inner strength to achieve more than a mother’s search for her missing son.
“A Stranger in Paris” by Mahdieh Valizadeh was chosen as runner-up while the winners were announced last Thursday.
The film is a true story of an Iranian musician who immigrates to France. To obtain French nationality in order to tour the world freely, Ahmad Yahyazadeh is advised to work as a taxi driver in Paris for a while to have a regular paycheck.
A jury composed of Barbara Miller, Annina Furrer, Gertrud Pinkus, Joël Jent and Veronique Gray judged the feature films.
The Golden Cyrus Cylinder for best short film was given to “The Visit” by Azadeh Musavi.
In this film, after six months, Elaheh is finally allowed to visit her husband, who is a political prisoner. She and her little daughter Tara have one single day to prepare for this important meeting.
“White Clad” by Reza Fahimi won the runner-up prize in the short film competition.
The film is about a grandmother who gives Ahmad, a ten-year-old boy, a cake of cheese, so that he can give it to his father, who is a teacher. It is hoped that his father will intervene and stop them from hanging the grandmother’s son.
Karin Heberlein, Homayra Sellier, Firouz E. Pillet, and Moritz Schneider were the members of the jury in the short films category.