Iranian writer and director Masud Bakhshi’s drama “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” won the special mention for best screenplay at the 24th Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria, the organizers announced on Tuesday.

A co-production from Iran, France, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” is about Maryam, a young woman who has been sentenced to death for murdering her husband, Nasser. Iranian law allows for the victim’s family to forgive her and spare her life, so Maryam’s fate will be decided by Nasser’s daughter, Mona, on the country’s most popular televised reality show.

In front of millions of viewers during Yalda, the winter solstice celebration, Maryam and Mona discover that forgiveness can be difficult as they relive the past.

The film has been screened in several international events and was acclaimed in some. It received the Grand Jury Prize of the World Cinema Dramatic section at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in February.

The Sofia City of Film Grand Prix for best film went to “Sister”, a co-production between Bulgaria and Qatar by director Svetla Tsotsorkova.

“Nocturnal” by director Nathalie Biancheri from the UK received the special jury award and Eva Cools from Belgium was named best director for her film “Cleo”.

British director Peter Webber, presided over the jury, which was composed of American producer Jim Stark, Bulgarian actress Irmena Chichikova and Mexican producer Nicolás Celis.

“The Cave”, a co-production from Syria, Denmark, Germany, USA and Qatar by Feras Fayyad was picked as best documentary.

Photo: Presenter steps on the stage to read the award for best screenplay during the closing ceremony of the 24th Sofia International Film Festival in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on July 6, 2020 as a scene from “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” is on screen. (SIFF)

T.T/

The 16th edition of Resistance International Film Festival has invited world filmmakers to submit their entries for the event, which will be held in autumn.

The entries will be competing in two separate sections, namely Fiction and Documentary, and will compete in eight categories including the “Healthcare Defenders” category dedicated to healthcare workers for their selfless and heroic efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The event divided into two “National” and “International” sections will be held on September 21-27 and November 21-27, celebrating the “Sacred Defense” and “Basij” weeks respectively.

The National Section will be held in Tehran while the International Section is scheduled to take place in the southern city of Kerman, where prominent Iranian anti-terror commander Major General Qassem Soleimani has been buried.

Resistance International Film Festival is regarded as one of the most prestigious international film festivals in Iran.

The goal of the festival is to create an atmosphere of dialogue, understanding of current human sufferings, and to share experiences and new ideas.

The three-fold mission is to create an atmosphere of dialogue by recognizing activists and filmmakers, foster the human spirit of brotherhood, peace, and resisting oppression, and use the language of film to fight terrorism and violence.

Filmmakers around the world are welcome to submit documentaries and features relevant to the festival topics.

Films with the topics relevant to “Health Defenders”, “Sacred Defence”, and “Resistance” will be given special attention.

MNA/

There are currently 18,247 female members of the Red Crescent Society providing relief and rescue operations to women affected by incidents in the country, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Rescue and Relief Organization has announced.

“Women must receive special assistance from specialized groups of female rescuers in accidents due to their special physical characteristics,” IRNA quoted Mehdi Valipour as saying on Monday.

Female rescuers are offering services during accidents and disasters in four categories, including social-psychological support, family reunification, operation support, accommodation, and emergency nutrition, he explained, adding, volunteers also excel in search and rescue operations such as urban and long-distance search and rescue operations, mountain search and rescue, medical emergencies and assessment.

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Head of Iran football national teams committee, Mehdi Kharati, announced the holding of a friendly match between the national teams of Iran and Uzbekistan on upcoming FIFA dates.

As reported by the official website of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), Kharati confirms the new friendly match for the Persian Leopards.

“Since the friendly matches in FIFA dates will be from August 31 to September 8, the FFIRI has followed up its plan for the preparation of the national team so that we could provide some friendly matches for our team during the period of FIFA dates,” Kharati said.

According to Kharati, the match between Iran and Uzbekistan is scheduled for September 7 in Tashkent.

Previously, it was reported by media that Iran has reached an agreement with the Syrian football federation for another friendly match.

Iran and Uzbekistan are preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.

The ‘Persian Leopards’ have four must-win matches ahead in Group C.

Deagan Skocic’s team are scheduled to host Hong Kong on October 8 in Tehran and meet Cambodia five days later in Phnom Penh.

Iran’s last two matches against Bahrain and Iraq – which are very crucial – will be against Bahrain and Iraq on November 12 and 17 in Tehran. /T.T/

Iran has joined an online campaign launched by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to promote gastronomy as an essential part of tourism, a senior official with the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ministry, has said.

The gastronomic project is part of the #TravelTomorrow campaign that seeks to highlight the fundamental and enduring value of tourism, including the culinary heritage of UNWTO member countries.

As part of the project, each country highlights one of its famous national foods, and Iran has produced a short video presenting Qanbar-Polo that is cooked in the southern city of Shiraz, CHTN quoted Mohammad Qassemi as saying on Wednesday.

Each country’s food is being promoted through videos, photos and original recipes on the UNWTO’s official website.

As the coronavirus pandemic has hit the tourism sector over the past few months, the UNWTO aims to show how culinary heritage gives people a strong sense of belonging and brings a touch of local flavors to their homes to keep the dream of future travel alive.

Experts say that food is not merely an organic product with biochemical compositions. However, for members of each community, food is defined as a cultural element.

Iranian cuisine, usually dominated by fragrant herbs, varies from region to region. It principally accentuates freshness, deliciousness, and colorfulness.

The hashtag #TravelTomorrow encapsulates the message ‘By staying home today, we can travel tomorrow’, through which the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) calls for shared responsibility among travelers and the tourism sector around the world to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

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Director of the University of Tehran Science & Technology Park said that one of its affiliated companies has produced a drug to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

Abbas Zarei made the remarks on Tuesday, saying that one of the companies in the University of Tehran Science & Technology Park has produced a drug from plant material that prevents COVID-19 infection.

“After the spread of Coronavirus, Knowledge-based companies in the Park begun working in the fields of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and post-coronavirus. They have managed to produce 80,000 masks per day along with disinfectants, diagnostic kits, and ventilators in collaboration with Tehran University of Medical Sciences,” he added. MNA/

The Vise President for Science and Technology, Sorena Sattari, announced on Tuesday that 13 percent of the articles in the world on coronavirus is written by Iranian scientists.

He added that in the last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20, 2020), the number of the Iranian scientific articles registered a growth of eight percent.

Sattari made the remarks during his visit to Qazvin province.

On June 30, Sattari announced that two human vaccines for treating the novel coronavirus are ready to be unveiled and three other ones will be ready by the end of the current year (March 2021).

Iranian knowledge-based firms have started manufacturing coronavirus test kits and they have received approval from eight countries to export their products.

Iran presently has a production capacity of manufacturing 1 million serology test kits per day and monthly production of 1.5 million of C-Creative Protein (CPR) test kits. Of the said amount, a part is domestically used and the rest is exported.

Iran exports corona diagnostic kits at the condition that the country heavily needed to these kits at the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19 but with the cooperation of knowledge-based companies, not only Iran’s requirement to these kits have been met, but also suitable ways have been provided for the country in export of these kits. /MNA/

In a ceremony on Saturday, attended by the IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami, IRGC Ground Force unveiled four new homegrown military products, including a reconnaissance drone with a service ceiling of 12,000 feet.

One of the items was BTR-50 personnel carrier, a modified version of Makran personnel carrier, which enjoys an improved body and a new turret.

The vehicles’ turret is equipped with a fire-control system, thermal night-vision cameras, and a laser distance measurement system that can hit surface and aerial targets.

The personnel carrier’s turret also has a 30 mm caliber automatic cannon and a 7.62 mm caliber machine gun, controlled by a gunner inside the vehicle.

The IRGC chief also unveiled So’ban-1 machine gun, a modified version of Russian-made RPD machine gun.

Another major achievement of the IRGC unveiled this morning is a ground-penetrating radar system used for the detection of landmines and roadside bombs.

Mounted on a vehicle traveling at a speed of 10 km/h, the radar system can detect explosives hidden in the ground at a depth of up to 30 cm at a distance of 30 meters.

Another product unveiled by the IRGC was Me’raj-1 drone.

The reconnaissance UAV has a service ceiling of 12,000 feet and a maximum speed of 140 km/h. Weighing 35 kilograms, the aircraft has a flight endurance of 10.5 hours and can carry a payload of 5 kg. With a wingspan of 3.6 meters, Me’raj-1 has a range of 1,000 kilometers and a data link system with a range of up to 150 km.

MNA/