Iran’s Submission to 2020 Oscars Finding Farideh Named Best in Herat Festival

TEHRAN. (Iranart) – Iran’s submission to the 2020 Oscars Finding Farideh was named best documentary at the 5th Herat International Women’s Film Festival, a public relations team announced on Friday.

Co-directed by Azadeh Musavi and Kurosh Atai, the film is about a Netherland-based Iranian woman who was adopted by a Dutch couple forty years ago, and returns to Iran to search for her family.

Finding Farideh was selected as Iran’s submission to the 92nd Academy Awards in the best foreign-language film category.

The documentary has been acclaimed in several Iranian events. It was selected as best documentary at the 20th Iran Cinema Celebration in Tehran in September 2018.

Musavi also attended a screening of the documentary at Kabul University.

Iranian director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad was the president of the jury of the Herat International Women’s Film Festival. 

Bani-Etemad received an award for her lifetime achievements during the previous edition of the festival. 

Mehraveh Sharifinia, the actress in Bani-Etemad’s acclaimed social drama Tales, was also a special guest of the festival, which opened at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on August 26 and ran until August 29 in Herat, Bamyan and Nangarhar.

A lineup of 47 films from different countries, including Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Turkey, France, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, Iran, Russia, United States, Lebanon, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Germany, competed in the festival this year. 

The first edition of the festival was held in Herat and the next two editions were also held at the ancient fortress of Ekhtiyar Al-din (Arg) in the same province. The fourth and fifth editions took place in Kabul.

Source: Tehran Times