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Coming: 15th Annual Iranian Film Festival – San Francisco: September 17-18, 2022

Welcome to the 15th Annual Iranian Film Festival – San Francisco, the first independent Iranian film festival outside of Iran. This year, the festival presents 50 films, in two days, from Iran, USA, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Greece, UK, Canada, Australia, and Denmark…, ranging from fiction, documentary, short, animation…. to the music video. We are happy and proud to continue our mission to discover and support the next generation of Iranian filmmakers living and working around the world. Please join us to celebrate the outstanding works of Iranian filmmakers.

Winners of the 2021 ‘Sepanta Awards’

Best Film: African Violet
Best Director: Mona Zandi Haghighi for African Violet
Best Actor: Amir Hossein Fathi for The Slaughterhouse
Best Actress: Fatemah Motamed Aria for African Violet
Best Screenplay: Hamidreza Bababeigi for African Violet
Best Cinematography: Mehdi Rezaei for KulbarF
Best Documentary: Duchenne Boys by Sohrab Kavir
Best Short Film: Tattoo
Best Director for a Short Film: Farhad Delaram for Tattoo
Best Screenplay [Short Film]: Meysam Saberi for A Simple Examination
Best Documentary Short: Nahma by Masoud Mirzaei
Best Actor in a Short Film: Babak Karimi for Muncher
Best Actress in a Short Film: Mahshid Ajam for 2 Weeks Later
Best Cinematography for a Short Film: Ali Eskandari for To Be
Best Children’s Short Film: Bread & Dementia by Kaveh Azizi
Best Music Video: One More Kiss by Aydin Aryainejad
Best Animation Film: Stars in the Rain by Sara Namjoo
Best Experimental Film: The Phoenix by Farzin Nobarani

Animation Films

The history of animation films in Iran goes back to the 1950s, decades after it was invented. Since then, despite all the obstacles from lack of equipment to lack of knowledge, animation films have still were made by aspiring filmmakers all the way through the present time. With the latest technology and dedicated filmmakers, the highest number of animation films are being made today in Iran. Iranian Film Festival dedicates its Spotlight on Animation Cinema in Iran, created by a group of talented artists by showing: Imaginary scene, Wavelength, A Goodbye, Crisis, Lines of Exile, Goodbye Earth, Nail, Stars in the Rain, The Letter, House…

Documentary Films

Aside from the fiction, the Iranian Film Festival pays special attention to the documentary genre with some of the best young talents Iranian cinema can offer. Films such as: Simin Behbahani: Love at Eighty [a retrospective of Simin Behbahani’s life and unique poetry], Ill Fate [about women in Iranian cinema before the Revolution], The United States of Elie Tahari [about the fashion designer and mogul Elie Tahari], Duchenne Boys [an epic quest to form a virtual football team made up of young sufferers of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy]…

Short Films

The genre of short films, if we can call it that, is a platform for the filmmakers to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end in a short amount of time. While they can be under time pressure to tell their whole story, but it gives them the time management to work within that time frame. For that reason, the short films are always the jewel of filmmaking, and we are happy to present a fraction of a large number of short films we received this year, among them: Muncher, Hiss…, Closed Circuit, The Phoenix, To Be, The Dagger, For the Clean Up, Tattoo, A Simple Examination, The Shadow, Psycho, The Sign, Witness, Flasher, Demonstration…
The Shorts Programs are scheduled on Saturday, September 18 and Sunday, September 19 at 12:00 PM.

Music & Dance Films

This year, the Iranian Film Festival received the highest number of music videos showing that the music is alive and well in the hearts of Iranian people specially the younger generation. Among those chosen are: The Goodbye [directed by Arman Karkhanei], Sanam [directed by Nemat Zareian], Entangled [directed by Sam Javadi], I Fell in Love [directed by Sobhan Farzaneh], Daya [directed by Maryam Yadegari], Capriccio [directed by Dareios Haji Hashemi], One More Kiss [directed by Aydin Aryainejad], Nahma [directed by Masoud Mirzaei]…

Films for Children & Young Adults

For the past few years, the Iranian Film Festival – San Francisco, has paid more attention to the films made by or about the children and young adults. These are some of the films that are selected for this year: Permission Ms., Present [about a boy who can’t afford to go to school to help his family], The Kids [about a teenage boy and girl who are brother and sister but want to separate from each other], White Clad [about a young boy who tries to save someone’s life], Bread & Dementia [about a small girl who loses her grandfather who suffers from dementia], Behind the Glasses [about a skyscraper glass cleaner who finds a way to communicate with some children in a hospital]…

Poster Contest

Iranian Film Festival- San Francisco holds a contest for its annual poster in order to introduce some of the best graphic artists working in the field in Iran. The winner of this year’s poster contest is Rasool Haghjoo, who created his design based on 12 blue Lotus leaves [the flower of life], which was a symbol of old Persia, and a camera lens.

Sepanta Award

When the Iranian Film Festival decided to give awards, the first name came to mind was Abdolhossein Sepanta [1907-1969], the father of sound in Iranian cinema. Sepanta, was also a director, screenwriter and producer who made The Lor Girl (1931), Ferdowsi, Shirin-o-Farhaad, Black Eyes, and Leyli o Majnun (1936). In honor of his role in Iranian cinema, the Iranian Film Festival chose his name for its awards in 2013, and presents the Sepanta Award every year in various categories.

Support the Festival

If you like what we do, to continue bringing the best of independent films made by or about Iranians from around the world, support our efforts by sponsoring, advertising, and your contributions. We, Iranians, need to have a strong voice in our host country by unity and representing the best talents any community can offer. This support can be in variety of ways but for sure it benefits the Iranian community.

Join Us

We know there are many talented Iranian artists out there, aside from those in film that can share their talent with us in visual art. If you are a photographer, graphic artist, musician…join the festival and participate in whatever capacity the festival can offer you. Drop us a note and be a part of our festival.

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