Iran Press/ Europ: By Mansour Jahani - Three days of impressive, beautiful, moving and poetic films in the MENA Film Festival 2021 (MENAFF) have resulted in a number of justified winners. - The movie "I am Joseph", directed by "Mohammad Reza Fartousi", a joint production of Iran and Iraq, received the award for the best feature film and the audience award for the best feature film. The distinguished international jury also rewarded several other awards in different categories of short and feature films.
The 4th MENA International Film Festival provides contemporary visual perspectives on the cultural, political, social, and artistic situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
The festival took place under the supervision of the director and Iraqi poet Mohammad Amin living in the Netherlands on May 20-22, 2021. This festival was made possible with the support of The Hague Municipality and was held online in the Netherlands due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.
The festival showed works by directors from different countries of the world, including; Argentina, Iraq, France, Brazil, Chile, Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, and Iran.
More than 3.000 viewers from all over the world enjoyed the three days of top-quality movies. Over 1.000 viewers cast their vote for the audience awards.
The main section of the feature film competition.
The members of the jury of the main competition section of the 4th International Film Festival "Mena" were: Elahe Nobakht, an international producer and distributor of cinema from Iran, Karim Traidia, a well-known film director from the Netherlands, and Hammadi Gueroum, Secretary of the Casablanca International Film Festival and a prominent Moroccan film critic.
The Best Film Award, the Best Director Award, and the Peace and Justice Award were presented at the festival as follows:
• The movie "I am Joseph", directed by "Mohammad Reza Fartousi", a joint production of Iran and Iraq, received the award for the best feature film and the audience award for the best feature film.
• Khartoum offside, directed by Marwa Zein from Sudan, won the Justice and Peace Award.
• The film "Time to leave" directed by Orhan Tekeoglu from Turkey won the award for best director.
• Dima Punk, directed by Dominique Caubet and co-produced by France and Morocco, won the Special Jury Prize in the Main Feature Film Competition.
• The documentary When the Snow Melts Down, directed by Aleksei Golovkov from Russia, won the Best Feature Documentary Award at the fourth edition of the festival.
Short Film Competition Section:
The members of the jury for the short film competition of the 4th Mena International Film Festival were: Hanane Boukhelala, an Algerian writer and film critic, Mohammed Lyounsi, a director, screenwriter, and producer from Morocco, and Eline Farideh Koning, the main character of the documentary "In Search of Farideh", the representative of Iranian cinema at the 2020 Oscars.
The Best Film Award, the Best Director Award, and the Peace and Justice Award for this part of the festival were presented as follows:
• The short film "Sa'ad's Olive Tree" directed by "Ahmad Zairi" from Iran won the award for the best short film of this cinematic event.
• The short film "Ghost of Space-Time" directed by "Karim Tajouaout" from Morocco won the "Peace and Justice" award.
• Nobody, Nowhere, Never, the short film "Nobody, Nowhere, Never" directed by Marina Sark from Russia, won the award for best director in the short film competition section of the festival.
The Hague International Film Festival (MENA) in the Netherlands aims to support young filmmakers and independent filmmakers in North Africa and the Middle East and to present contemporary visual perspectives from these regions, a cinema that has the ability to create a wide audience. Proves it by succeeding in humanitarian goals and helping to maintain world peace.
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