Iran (IMNA) - Amir Toodeh Roosta, Nima Javidi, Tannaz Tabatabaei, Mahdi Moniri, and Jahangir Nasri Ashrafi are set to form the jury panel of this edition, reviewing the 55 entries submitted to the national segment.
- Amir Toodeh Roosta
Born in 1982, in Karaj, Toodeh Roosta is a Dramatic Literature graduate from Soore University of Tehran. Short movies such as “Hello Mr. Evil”, “Sparkle”, “Radiology of a Portrait”, and “Lay My Bed in the Room”, as well as the feature film “Paat” are among his works.
Toodeh Roosta’s films have been screened in international festivals all over the world; in Tokyo, Warsaw, Sao Paulo, Tbilisi, Washington DC, and also Transylvania.
This young filmmaker has managed to receive several prestigious awards, namely the jury’s Special Prize in the 2016 Festival Silhouette of France, Special Mention by the Jury in the 2014 Transylvania Film Festival, Tokyo’s 2016 Short Shoots Festival for “Lay My Bed in the Room,” Copenhagen’s 2014 Sixty Seconds Film Festival for “Peace and War,” and Austria’s 2007 International Festival for “Sparkle”.
Toodeh Roosta has been a member of the jury and the selection committee in various domestic film fairs.
- Nima Javidi
An official member of the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, the Directors Guild of Iran, the Iranian Society of Screenwriters, and the Iranian Short Film Association, Nima Javidi is a veteran member of the jury in the main segments of Spain’s 54th Gijón International Film Festival, as well as the 19th edition of Tbilisi Film Festival. “The Warden” is a 2019 feature film which Javidi himself has written and directed.
He has earned numerous prizes such as Cairo’s Golden Pyramid for best film, Best Script from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Best Script from Stockholm Film Festival, Best Picture according to Audience from Poland’s Ars Festival, Best Director and Best Scrip from Gijón, Best Picture from France’s National Institute for Language and Eastern Studies, the Jury’s Special Prize from Fajr International Film Festival, Best Picture from Varesh, and Best Asian Short Film Award from Tehran International Short Film Festival among many others.
- Tannaz Tabatabaei
This 36-year-old Theater Directing graduate is a renowned actress for starring in movies such as “Heavy Makeup,” “Crazy Rook,” “Sound and Fury,” “Villa Inhabitants,” “Resident of the Middle Floor,” and “Death of the Fish.”
Tabatabaei gained international acclaim by receiving awards from various cinematic institutions, including Iran’s Film Critics and Writers Association, Women’s Independent Film Festival, and San Francisco’s Festival of Iranian Movies in the US. She has also been a three-time nominee of Best Actress Award in Fajr International Film Festival.
- Mahdi Moniri
Born in 1974 in Babol in northern Iran, Moniri studied Movie Directing in IRIB University. He worked as a director for a major state TV channel for seven years, and has ever since been active in the field of documentary making.
Moniri’s works mostly address his ethnic background; even the titles of the films point to that fact: documentary features namely, “Amiri Khoonesh”, “Ameneh Khaleh”, “Karb”, “Soog and Samaa”, and “Tinar.” He is currently working on two other films called “Siva” and “Vishar.”
Moniri’s fame is not limited to his homeland, but also countries like Australia, the Czech Republic, Canada, and the US have paid their due respects to this dedicated filmmaker.
- Jahangir Nasri Ashrafi
An ethnographer, ethnologist, ethnomusicologist, and the founder, compiler, and supervisor of an encyclopedia on Tabarestan and Mazandaran, Nasri Ashrafi’s research background is as extensive as four decades, still going strong, having published more than 50 works, in written, audio, and video formats, about Iran’s ethnic and national culture. “A Glossary of Tabari Words”, and “Vaazigaah” are among them.
“Persian Gusans,” another prominent project of this scholar, discusses the art of traditional musicians, called “Khonyagars,” who related stories and combined music with folktales, performance, and the nation’s rich body of literature.
Ashrafi has formerly been in charge of several domestic and international festivals in Iran, which mainly focused on the fields of culture, art, and music.
Presided by Mehdi Ghorbanpour, the 9th edition of Varesh International Film Festival is set to open on April 29, in the northern city of Babol, in Mazandaran Province. After a four-year pause, the latest round will run up to May 3, with simultaneous screening of movies in Ramsar and Sari.
Provided by Mansour Jahani
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