Better than Neil Armstrong Director Best at Pune Film Festival

TEHRAN. (Iranart) – Iranian filmmaker Alireza Qasemi has won the Best Live Action Short Film Director’s Award at the 18th Pune International Film Festival for his sci-fi Better than Neil Armstrong.

He received the award “For a very touching story that unravels with assured command over the medium in many respects,” the jury said in their statement during the closing ceremony of the festival in Pune, India on January 16.

The film is about four kids who start their journey to the Moon with the mission of finding a mysterious place called “Redland”, but the gates of the place are being guarded by a mischievous snake.

Over 20 other movies were screened in the Live Action Students Short Film competition. The Best Live Action Short Film award was presented to “A Piece of Hope” directed by Syahreza Fahlevi from Indonesia.

Iranian actress Vishka Asayesh was a member of the jury of the festival, which also featured several other movies from Iran, including “Kömür” by Esmaeil Monsef, “Diapason” by Hamed Tehrani and “Just 6.5” by Saeid Rustai.

Tunisian director Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s drama “A Son” produced by Marc Irmer and Habib Attia was selected as best film in the World Cinema Competition.

Bartosz Kruhlik from Poland was named best director in the category for “Supernova”.

The special jury award went to the screenwriter Michael Idov for “The Humorist”, a co-production of Russia, Latvia, and Czech.

Source:Tehran Times