Polish Filmmaker Grabs the International Award in Iran

The world-renowned Polish filmmaker Marcin Koszalka caught the award for the best over-60 minutes film at the festival and received the honorary diploma, statue of verity and a 5000€ prize

His delicate film “Existence” drew an eye-catching and in-depth outline of Jerzy Nowak’s real life. Nowak is a distinguished 84 year old Polish actor who decided that after death, his body should be used for the benefit of science. This precious documentary follows Mr. Nowak as he makes this most personal and final decision and reveals his own dilemmas and thoughts about death.

Marcin Koszalka who is a graduate from the Kieslowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia has voyaged to round the world with “Existence” and has won the Interreligious Jury Award in the Switzerland‘s Visions du Reel film festival of 2008 before coming to Iran.

Various films by Koszalka have been displayed on the screens of international film festivals such as the 2008 version of Germany based DOK Leipzig film festival, the 2008 edition of Bulgarian Sofia Film Fest and also the Rotterdam International Film Festival of the Netherlands in 2008. “Dead Body”, “Till it hurts”, “User friendly death” and “all day together” are among his former notable documentaries which all have been produced in the interval between 2006 and 2008. The other laureate was the young Indian director Nishtha Jain who has been named the only Asian winner of festival and grasped the honorary diploma, Verity statue and a 2,000€ award for the best short documentary.

Prior to this, the Mumbai-based independent director Jain has won several international awards for her appreciating, under 60-minutes documentary “Lakshmi and me” in various festivals such as the 5th Golden Apricot Film Festival of Armenia, Bucharest 2008 International Film Festival, Planete Doc Film Festival of Warsaw and the 2008 International Women’s Film Festival of Dortmund.

The impressive film, narrates the story of an almost poor and miserable woman who works as a servant for her employer who is also another woman. Both of them have a relative friendly communication with together. But what makes the film so effective and eye-catching is the chain of unrelated and challenging accidents that happen for the “Lakshmi”.

The other prize for the best lengthy documentary went to a veteran filmmaker from Switzerland named Fernand Melgar who was born in Morocco with a Spanish originality.

The last prize belonged to “Victor Asliuk” for the political documentary “Belarusian Waltz”. The documentary criticizes the tyranny and dictatorship in the political system of Belarus. However, the most attractive part of the festival was honoring the experienced, old hand filmmaker Richard Leacock of the USA. Leacock who is one of the pioneers or direct cinema, has studied physics in the Harvard University and later developed an innovative style of filmmaking based on synchronous sound and the use of lightweight cameras.

In 1984, the German documentarist Klaus Wildenhahn produced a documentary film reviewing the life of Leacock and paying tribute to 45 years of his creative artistic efforts. That film was the first documentary produced about the featured verite director himself.

In the closing ceremony of Cinema Verite festival, the Iranian ministry of culture honored Master Leacock with the special trophy and reward for his sincere and intellectual struggles to improve the purity of cinema and refining the spiritual values of documentary filmmaking. Leacock went on the stage, helping not to shed tears and said with an excited, shaking voice: “This is the first time which I come to Iran. I can not forget the affable compassion of its people; I will be proud of my every moment presence in Iran,” and that was how the Cinema Veirte was closed officially by introducing the laureates and glorifying a master of documentary filmmaking.

The last event was a 4-hour visit of the Iran‘s Carpet Museum which had been slated for the participants and foreign guests to discover some new meanings of promising and historical art of carpet-waiving which is a national art belonging to Iranian people since 500 B.C.  

Kourosh Ziabari – Journalist
Persian Blog: http://kouroshz.blogfa.com
English Blog: http://cyberfaith.blogspot.com