Two Iranian films bag awards at 11th OCFF in New Delhi

Iran’s Ali Reza Aghakhani and Negar Javaherian received “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” awards for the film ‘Before the Burial’ at 11th Osian’s Cine Fan Festival (OCFF) in New Delhi.

The awards were received by director Behnam Behzadi of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While, among short films, the Best film award went to ‘The First Film’ by Panah Panahi of Iran, while Special Mention was made of ‘Vitthal’ by Vinoo Choliparambil of India.

Meanwhile, the Syrian film ‘The Long Night’ by Hatem Mohammed won two awards including that of the best film while the Indian film ‘Khargosh’ directed by Paresh Kamdar bagged three awards in the closing ceremony of the 11th OCFF in a glittering event Friday evening.

The awards were presented by the founder of the Festival, renowned film critic Aruna Vasudev, filmmaker M S Sathyu, actress Moushmi Chatterjee and actor Rahul Bose, apart from the jury members.

The Special Jury Award went to ‘The Wailing Wall’ by Elyse Baccar of Tunisia.

The closing film was the film ‘Waltz with Bashir’ by Ari Folman which is an Israel-Germany-France co-production. The award-winning ‘The Long Night’, ‘The Wailing Wall’, ‘Khargosh’ and ‘Before the Burial’ were also screened.

As in previous years, the Festival was organised by Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art in association with the Government of the NCT of Delhi. One of the world’s leading festivals of contemporary Indian, Asian and Arab cinema, it was held at the Siri Fort Complex and Alliance Francaise in New Delhi, guided by Osian’s founder and Chairman Neville Tuli, Director General Mani Kaul, and Festival Director Indu Shrikent.

Clearly, it is undeniable that no other festival anywhere in the world has done so much to popularise Asian cinema as Osian’s-Cinefan and show how Asian and Indian cinema have emerged as the most vibrant creative force for creating cultural affinity and identity

The Festival had been inaugurated on 24 October by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the opening film was ‘Hooked’, a France-Romanian co-production by Adrian Sitaru.

With about 100 features and shorts from about 25 countries including Iran, the Festival was a reflective insight into the multitudes of cultures and ideas with a focus on India. For the first time, India was in the spotlight at the Festival.

Over 5000 students from around sixty private and government schools saw three films in four shows and interacted with the filmmakers, bearing testimony to the role it plays in taking forth the cause of learning and education.

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