November 01-2013
Over six days last week, the Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles screened 35 films by Iranians or about Iranians to ecstatic audiences, which voted “Snow On Pines,” directed by Payman Maadi, as the audience favorite.
“Snow On Pines” was shot entirely in black and white. The director, Maadi, starred in the Oscar-winning film, “A Separation,” as the troubled husband. His new film follows an Iranian piano teacher who finds out her husband has been hiding an affair.
“Pepe & Lucas,” an animated short about a fighting angry clown and street mime, took home two Noor awards, for best animation and best animation director, Mo Davoudian.
The documentary “A Survivor from Magadan” also took home two awards, for best documentary and for best story/idea. Directed by Aref Mohammadi, the film tells the story of Ata Safavi, an Iranian who was sentenced to five years in a Russian prison on charges of espionage after fleeing Iran in 1947.
The festival culminated with a celebration of actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, the only Iranian actress nominated for an Academy Award, for her supporting role in 2003’s “House of Sand and Fog.” She was awarded the festival’s Achievement Award,
“Shohreh is an icon in our community,” festival director Siamak Ghahremani told the Los Angeles Times. “What she has done for Iranians around the world in the TV and film industry is tremendous. It was due time that we honored her.”
The award was presented by Howard Koch, a long-time movie producer, a former president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences (the group that awards the Oscars) and current president of the Producers Guild of America.
Aghdashloo was the third winner of the award. In 2009, it went to Reza Badiyi, who is believed to have directed more television episodes than any other person. The 2011 award went to Iranian-American producer Bob Yari, who is perhaps best known for the film “Crash,” in which the Iranian-American community had a major role.
Noor was launched in 2007 as the only Iranian film competition outside Iran. It features films about any topic that are made by Iranians, and films about Iran and Iranians that are made by anyone of any nationality.
The festival aims to shed light on Iran and Iranians, hence the name “Noor,” which means light in Persian.
Here are the winners at the 2013 festival:
Audience Favorite: “Snow on Pines” by director Payman Maadi
Best Feature Film: “Filly Brown” by directors Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos
Best Feature Film Direc-tor: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for “Chicken with Plums”
Best Documentary: “A Survivor from Magadan” by director Aref Mohammadi
Best Documentary Direct-or: Nahid Persson Sarves-tani for “My Stolen Revolution”
Best Story/Idea: “A Survivor from Magadan” by direct-or Aref Mohammadi
Best Short Film: “Dimen-sions” by director Neysan Sobhani
Best Short Film Direct-or: Parish Rahbar for “Fade”
Best Animation: “Pepe and Lucas” by director Mo Davoudian.
Best Animation Director: Mo Davoudian for “Pepe and Lucas”