Strange though pleasant, a short film festival has become a cornerstone for the cultural activities of Gerash each year. 8th Kal Short Film Festival, form December 30th to January 1st 2012, not only met the general expectations, but also displayed a series of improvements in the way towards a full-blown cinematic festival.
Among the most significant changes was the addition of six awards in the fields of best directing, screenplay or research, acting, cinematography, editing, sound and music, in an attempt toward the specialization of the festival. But perhaps the most eye-catching feature of the 8th Kal Festival was its amicable jury, including Amir Shahab Razavian (the well-known director of such films as “Tehran 7 a.m.” and “Mina of the Silent City”), Majid Barzegar (the president of the Short Film Academy of Iran) and Tooraj Zare Golestani (cinema and photography teacher), as well as Mohamad Kazem Mahmudi, the only Gerashi jury of this year.
The festival was welcomed warmly by filmmakers. From 110 films and documentaries that were sent to the festival, 44 films were selected officially for the main section, and 10 films for the special section.
All in all, after two nights and two afternoons of showing the films in “Sharhe Qesse Cinema”, the closing ceremony of the festival was held in the auditorium of the Faculty of Medicine of Gerash. The happiest person in this hall was Sajjad Imani from Nur-Abad, who was nominated for several awards, and finally took home two awards for best editing (for “Beytal”) and best documentary (for “The Day We Become Men”). Mosayyeb Hanaei also received two awards for best directing (for “Anything Unimportant”) and best film in the special section of Ethnology (for “The Poet of the Straws”). “Memorable Photo” was the most successful film of this year, since it received two awards: best fiction film for Amin Baqeri, and best acting for Sharare Mansur-Abadi. The jury decided that Mohamad Reza Haq-Negahdar was qualified to receive an award for the best experimental film for “Up”; and the Gerashi audience selected Abdollah Fabud’s documentary, “Black Plastic” as their favorite film, naturally because he was their fellow-citizen.
