Noor Iranian Film Festival

The Noor Iranian Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Los Angeles, California, founded by cultural producer Siamak Ghahremani and co-founder Anthony Azizi in 2007. The festival's namesake comes from the word Nur, also spelled Noor, meaning to shed light or "noor," on Iranian culture and heritage through Iranian cinema.[1] A non-profit, non-religious, and non-political organization, the Noor Iranian Film Festival (NIFF) was created to shed light, or ‘noor,’ on Persian culture, helping to express the beauty of a culture that is commonly misperceived due to its portrayal in the media.[2] Additional to the main annual festival in Los Angeles, a tour of the program has made several return trips to cities such as Daytona Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.[3][4]

The Los Angeles festival has been held at such venues as the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA Campus, Laemmle's Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills and Magnin Auditorium at the Skirball Cultural Center. It has taken place every year since 2007, with the exception of 2010, where due to Iran's political uprising in 2010, and out of respect for the people in Iran, the festival decided to postpone its 4th festival to 2011. The postponement was also due to a lack of sponsorship and seed money for the festival.[5]

Programming

The program blocks have included feature films, documentaries, short films and animated films, all of which were selected to shed light on Iranian culture and heritage. Their submission guidelines for filmmakers state: "NIFF accepts films from Iranian filmmakers, films made about Iran or Iranians, and/or films that include Iranians as part of the cast or crew."[6]

Judges

1st Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

2nd Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

3rd Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

4th Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

5th Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

6th Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

7th Annual Noor Film Festival Judges

8th Annual Noor Film Festival judges

Awards

Additional to judged awards for films screened at the festival, the event selects honorary recipients with a career achievement award. In 2013 the festival announced that the Achievement Award would be renamed the Reza Badiyi Achievement Award, in honor of the director/producer Reza Badiyi, recipient of the festival's first Achievement Award in 2009.[7]

Achievement Awards

YearRecipientRole
2009Reza BadiyiProducer, director
2011Bob YariProducer
2013Shohreh AghdashlooActress
2014Shaun ToubActor

2007

AwardRecipientFilm
Theme AwardRyan HaidarianAref
Audience FavoriteMohammad ShirvaniPresident Mir Qanbar
Best ComedyKaveh SejadhosseiniCold City
Best AnimationAmir MehranThe Lost Waves
Best StoryBahman DadfarFlying Next to the Red Chair
Best DramaSasan SaleimaniIt Takes Time As Smoking A Cig
Best DocumentaryMehdi RahmaniThe Autumn Boys
Best DirectorShahram MokriThe Dragonfly Storm (short)

2008

AwardRecipientFilm
Theme AwardArmin PalangiHidden Generation
Audience FavoriteAryana FarshadMystic Iran
Best AnimationSaeid GhahariRebirth of Rostam
Best StoryJahangir GolestanBam 6.6
Best DocumentaryJahangir GolestanBam 6.6
Best DirectorJahangir GolestanBam 6.6

2009

AwardRecipientFilm
Best Feature FilmSabine El GemayelNiloofar
Audience FavoriteFaramarz RahberDonkey in Lahore
Best DocumentaryFaramarz RahberDonkey in Lahore
Best DirectorFaramarz RahberDonkey in Lahore
Best StoryMohammad NourizadFlags of Kaveh's Castle
Best ActorAbazar NoorizadFlags of Kaveh's Castle
Best ActressMobina AynehdarNiloofar
Best Short FilmLadan YalzadehThe Florist

2011

AwardRecipientFilm
Audience FavoriteMaryam KeshavarzCircumstance
Best DirectorMaryam KeshavarzCircumstance
Best ActressNikohl BoosheriCircumstance
Best ActorNavid NegahbanLiberation (Short)
Best StoryJon GoldmanDiplomacy
Best Short FilmJon GoldmanDiplomacy
Best DocumentaryJoe AyellaAmerican Coup
Best AnimationAmeneh EslamiLittle Tale of Us

2012

AwardRecipientFilm
Audience FavoriteMorteza RezvaniThe Iran I Remember
Best Feature FilmDave Moutray/Shahaub RoudbariLosing Her
Best Feature Film DirectorEsmaeel MihandoustA Very Close Encounter
Best DocumentaryTanaz EshaghianBe Like Others
Best Documentary DirectorBeate PetersenNasseredin Shah and his 84 Wives
Best StoryAla MohensiMy City Pizza
Best Short FilmAna Lily AmirpourA Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Best Short Film DirectorAna Lily AmirpourPashmaloo

2013

AwardRecipientFilm
Audience FavoritePeyman MoaadiSnow on Pines
Best Feature FilmYoussef Delara/Michael D. OlmosFilly Brown
Best Feature Film DirectorMarjane Satrapi/Vincent ParonnaudChicken with Plums
Best DocumentaryAref MohammadiA Survivor from Magadan
Best Documentary DirectorNahid Persson SarvestaniMy Stolen Revolution
Best StoryAref MohammadiA Survivor from Magadan
Best Short FilmNeysan SobhaniDimensions
Best Short Film DirectorParish RahbarFade
Best AnimationMo DavoudianPepe and Lucas
Best Animation DirectorMo DavoudianPepe and Lucas

2014

Award Recipient Film
Best short film Ali Asgari More Than Two Hours
Best Short film Director Ethan Rains Still Here
Best Animation Behrouz Bagheri The Hard Dream
Best Documentary Iran's Unwanted Sons and daughters Out of Rain
Best Documentary Director Ayat Najafi No Land's Song
Best Feature film Mohammadreza Vatandoust When The Lemons Turned Yellow
Best Film Director Desiree Akhavan Appropriate Behavior
Best Story or Idea Nima Shayeghi Boys With Broken Ears
Audience Favorite K-von Moezzi Nowruz: Lost & found

2016

Award Recipient Film
Best Feature Film Salem Salavati The Last Winter
Best Short Film Ali Asghari The Baby
Best Documentary Shahriar Siami Shal Out Of Focus
Best Animation Maryam Farahzadi The Role Of Each Fret
Best Short Documentary Hilda Hashempour I.D.

See also

References

  1. Noor Film Festival. "NIFF Mission". Noor Film Festival. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  2. G, Vida (2014-11-03). "Noor Iranian Film Festival". The Experience Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  3. de Yampert, Rick. "Noor film festival sheds light on Iran". News-Journal Online. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  4. "PAAIA Takes the Noor Iranian Film Festival on Tour". PAAIA. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  5. "4th Annual Noor Film Festival Announces Award Winners: "Circumstance" Sweeps Three Categories". The Burgett Group. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  6. "Filmmakers - Rules & Guidelines for Submission". Noor Iranian Film Festival. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  7. "6th Annual Noor Iranian Film Festival Announces Award Winners". Payvand News. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
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