Press Release
Award Winners List;
The 4th International Women’s Film Festival – Herat
in Kabul
Saturday, 22 October 2016 – During the closing ceremony of “the 4th International Women’s Film Festival – Herat” in Continental Hotel, Kabul, winners of the 4th International Women’s Film Festival – Herat received their awards. Having examined 70 films in the Competition Section, the Festival Jury decided as follows:
| Category | Film | Director | Country |
| Best short fiction | Water | Seyedjalal Rohani | Afghanistan |
| Best documentary | I’m a happy actress | Samere Rezaie | Afghanistan |
| Best feature | The Sis | Marjan Ashrafizadeh | Iran |
| Best animation | The Spirit of Fishi | Anjali Nayar | India |
| Best screenplay | Lesson Unlearned | Nina Vedmitskaya | Russia |
| Best feature director | By Accident | Camille Fontaine | France |
| Best leading actress | Value | Ekaterina Volkova | Russia |
| Best leading actor | The Blind of the Cathedral | Sam Khoury | Lebanon |
| Best documentary maker | Scenes from a Divorce | Shirin Barghnavard & Mohammad Reza Jahanpanah | Iran |
| Best edit | Mary Mother | Sadam Wahidi | Afghanistan |
| Best camera | Song of the Horned Owl | Manju Borah | India |
| Best sound-mixing | Safe Space | Zora Rux | Germany |
| Special award of the Jury | Station & Mirror | Vega Moqarabi | Afghanistan |
Short introduction to award winning films
I’m a happy actress
Director: Samere Rezaie, Afghan
Genre: Documentary
Date & Country of Production: 2015, Iran
Language: Dari
Duration: 50 minutes
Synopsis: Two young Afghan migrant girls in Iran dream of acting. They attempt to achieve their goal, but there are problems rooted in migration.
Water
Director: Sayedjalal Rohani, Afghan
Genre: Fiction
Date & Country of Production: 2015, Afghanistan
Language: Dari
Duration: 14 minutes
Synopsis: A girl dreams of studying, but she has to work. One day, she stands outside the window of a school class and learns to write ‘water’, but…
The Sis
Director: Marjan Ashrafizadeh
Genre: Feature
Date & Country of Production: Iran
Language: Persian with English subtitles
Duration: 95 minutes
Synopsis: Tala and Ati (Sis) are a mother and daughter who have lived together for many years, almost 50 years, as long as the life of Sis. This situation, however, does not last long, and the days of separation arrive. The separation happens when Sis depends heavily on her mother due to her special conditions. Tala is trying to provide a secure future for Ati in her remaining time, a future without her presence.
The Spirit of Fishi
Director: Anjali Nayar, India
Genre: Animation
Date & Country of Production: 2015, India
Language: English
Duration: 10 minutes
Synopsis: Set against a backdrop of floods in Bihar, Fishi-Ru tells the story of a little girl’s concerns about the people affected by floods. As she tries to find a way to help out, she discovers an abandoned fish in a garbage dump and brings her home. Slowly, she begins to love the fish, but faces a drastic choice due to certain circumstances. In the culmination of her decisions, Ruhi finds her own understanding of the meaning of love, letting go, and of freedom.
By Accident
Director: Camille Fontaine
Genre: Feature
Date & Country of Production: 2015, France
Language: French with English subtitles
Duration: 85 minutes
Synopsis: Amra and Lyes are two young Algerians who have been living in France for five years. Amra has begun the process to legalize her immigrant status, whereas Lyes is still an illegal immigrant. One evening, as she searches for her cell phone while driving, Amra runs over a pedestrian. Amra is desperate and does not know what to do when a young woman, Angelique, suddenly appears and clears her of any blame, claiming that the pedestrian threw himself under the car. The two young women become friends. But over time, Angelique’s behavior grows increasingly strange; indeed, rather disturbing…
Value
Director: Olga Shtol, Russian
Genre: Short Film
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Russia
Language: Russian
Duration: 21 minutes 3 seconds
Synopsis: The film is about the value of human life, about circumstances that could change everything.
The Blind of the Cathedral
Original Title: L’aveugle de la Cathédrale
Director: Nadine Asmar, Lebanon
Genre: Social Drama
Date & Country of Production: 2015, Lebanon
Language: Arabic
Duration: 17 minutes
Synopsis: In front of a cathedral, fate leads to Hala and Bachir’s meeting. At first sight, they have nothing in common: she is a 15-year-old student, a Muslim and she sees. Whereas Bachir is 27, he plays the lute, is a Christian and blind. Two pure souls meet in a country ruled by hatred and conflicts, division and sectarianism, and just before the burst of the civil war. Hala and Bachir will go through an adventure that will empower their innocent love, but a dark fate awaits them.
Lesson Unlearned 14\41
Director: Nina Vedmitskaya, Russia
Genre: Short Film
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Russia
Language: Russian
Duration: 23 minutes 40 seconds
Synopsis: This is a story of Nick, a 5th grader of Donetsk school, who stays in the classroom during the bombardment. All alone with his fear, he suddenly finds support. The most common school board becomes a portal to the past. Nick meets the same little boy, but from 1941. They are both locked in the school under fire, and both want to live, be happy and enjoy childhood.
Scenes from a Divorce
Directors: Shirin Barghnavard & Mohammad Reza Jahanpanah
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Iran
Language: Persian with English subtitles
Synopsis: After eight years of marriage, Maryam and Bashoo decide to get a divorce. But to keep their families from finding out, they continue to live together. In a society as traditional and as religious as Iran, living together as an unmarried couple is not only illegal but also seen by many as a sin. This is an intimate year-long look at the private life of a modern Iranian couple, which explores the reasons behind Maryam’s and Bashoo’s decision to end their marriage and continue living together.
Mary Mother
Director: Sadam Wahidi, Afghan
Genre: Short
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Afghanistan
Language: Dari
Duration: 19 minutes
Synopsis: Mary and her two daughters live in a remote village of Afghanistan. Her only son and the young man of the family is serving in military in Kunduz province. One day she hears the news of fall of Kunduz province to the Taliban on radio, since the authorities have no news of her son, she decides to start her own journey to Kunduz.
Song of the Horned Owl
Original Title: Dau Huduni Methai
Director: Manju Borah, India
Genre: Fiction
Date & Country of Production: 2015, India
Language: Bodo
Duration: 77 minutes
Synopsis: The film recounts the effects of insurgency and counter-insurgency on common folk through the perspective of Raimali, a young rape victim. As she lies in an abandoned house, she recalls how separatist violence mars her life, that of her lover and their families, contrasting its intrusive nature with indigenous folklore and the immutability of the Assamese landscape.
Mirror
Director: Vega Moqarabi, Afghan
Genre: Short Fiction
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Afghanistan
Language: Dari
Duration: 10 minutes
Synopsis: This is the story of a psychotic man who has had an accident.
Station
Director: Vega Moqarabi, Afghan
Genre: Animation
Date & Country of Production: 2016, Afghanistan
Language: Dari
Duration: 3 minutes
Synopsis: The story is about a girl who is waiting.
