Iranian cinematographer Touraj Aslani has won the best cinematography award at the 60th San Sebastian Film Festival for his work in Rhino Season, while Parviz, a film by Iranian filmmaker Majid Barzegar, won Special Mention in the New Directors category.
Rhino Season depicts the life of an Iranian-Kurdish poet who, after the 1979 Revolution in Iran, is incarcerated for 30 years and, upon his release, goes looking for his lost wife and life. Bahman Ghobadi has dedicated the film to the memory of Saneh Jaleh, an Iranian-Kurdish student who was killed in the February 14, 2011 demonstrations in Iran, as well as Farzad Kamangar, an Iranian-Kurdish teacher who was executed that year for alleged political activities.
The cast of the film includes veteran Iranian actor Behrouz Vossoughi and Italian actress Monica Bellucci.
Parviz, Majid Barzegar’s second feature film, has also been met with favourable reviews at the San Sebastian Film Festival and won Special Mention in the Kutxa-New Directors Award for its direction, lead performance and storyline.
Parviz, an independent Iranian production, tells the story of Parviz, a man in his fifties who, after living in his father’s home his entire life, has to leave it once his father decides to remarry. The upheaval in his life unleashes forceful and violent reactions in the usually mild-natured Parviz, as his father realizes he cannot cast him out so easily.
