Two Iranian films among top 2020 Asian documentaries

TEHRAN.(Iranart) –Two Iranian documentaries, ‘Khatemeh’ and ‘Asho,’ were named among the best Asian documentaries of 2020 as Asian Movie Pulse reported.

‘Khatemeh,’ directed by Mehdi and Hadi Zarei, is about an Afghan teenage girl who lives in Shiraz, Iran, and reluctantly gets married to her late sister’s husband under the pressure of her family.

After a while, she escapes from home due to her husband’s and her brother’s beatings. She becomes a refugee at the Welfare Organization of Shiraz, ifilmtv.com reported.

‘Khatemeh’ won the awards for Best Director for full-length documentary and Best Editing at the 12th Cinéma Vérité, Iran’s major international documentary film festival.

The 30-minute documentary, ‘Asho,’ directed by Ja’far Najafi, narrates the story of a boy who herds a flock of sheep. The boy’s biggest dream is to become a Hollywood star. The boy, Asho, is under the influence of the Hollywood films that his cousin has brought him.

‘Asho’ has participated in several festivals and received many awards, including a special mention at the 62nd International Leipzig Festival in Germany, the Best Film Award of the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Lessina Silver for the Best Short Film Award at the 26th Film Festival Della Lessinia (FFDL) in Italy.

Asian Movie Pulse’s purpose is to deal with all aspects of Asian cinema, from its lowest depths (student, amateur films) to its highest peaks.

At the same time, it aims to promote the work of the entire continent through an approach that is characterized by objectivity, but also by a deep love for cinema and the realization of how difficult it is to fund, shoot, and produce a motion picture.

Source: Iran Daily