25th Film & Photography Festival Closing Ceremony

25th Film & Photography Festival Closing Ceremony

The 25th Film & Photography Festival concluded on Sunday with a closing ceremony celebrating prominent figures across cinema, music, literature, and environmental filmmaking.

Hosted by Seyed-Javad Yahyavi and Siavash Safariyan-Pour, the event brought together artists, cultural figures, and environmental advocates. This year’s edition received more than 800 film submissions and 1,400 photographs—a volume Festival Director Khosro Naghibi described as “a six-month marathon.”

Major Honorees

The ceremony paid tribute to several leading Iranian artists, including poet Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani, vocalist Homayoun Shajarian, actor-director Reza Attaran, actor Farhad Ayish, and filmmaker Ehsan Abdipour. A live performance by Alireza Assar featured in the ceremony, along with the premiere of the festival’s original piece, “Bright Iran,” sung by Homayoun Shajarian and accompanied by a historical montage directed by Vahid Amini.

Award Highlights

The awards spanned multiple categories—film, documentary, photography, children’s cinema, vertical-format films, and environmental works.

Film Awards

Festival statuettes and cash prizes were awarded to:

• The Room – Elham Mohammadzadeh
• Extinguishing – Leila Fazeli
• Things Were Not as They Always Are – Arman Babaki
• The Historical Curve – Milad Mohammadi
• The Day After the Loud Noise in Our House – Mohammad Darei

Special awards went to Hossein Firouzeh (Markh) and Amir-Hossein Mehmandoost (The Silence of the World).Eight additional works received honorable mentions.

Documentary Awards

• The Estuary Dwellers – Mohsen Shirzayi
• Sunshine Rain – Mohammad Ganji
• As Simple as This – Leila Rezapour

Photography Awards

Statuettes and cash prizes were presented to:
• Fading Borders – Iraj Jabari
• Wind: The Unpaid Workers of the Earth – Mohammad Qaedi
• Tower Maintenance & Repair – Omid Mohajer
• High Voltage – Amin Rahmani
• The Light Bearers – Keyhan Mohammadi

Honorable mentions were awarded to Ali Souteh and Saeedreza Maqsoodi.

Children & Youth Section

Statuettes were awarded to:
• One Two Three – Amir-Hossein Keshmiri
• 25 Degrees of Kindness – Kian Keshmiri

Vertical World Films

• Little Edison – Erfan Chegini
• We Are All on One Orbit – Ehsan Sanaei-Rad
• The Smile of Electricity – Yousef Bakhshaesh

Environmental and Special Section

Works addressing sustainability, energy, and environmental challenges were recognized with festival statuettes, including:
• Electronic Waste – Mohammad Riayahi & Setayesh Halimi-Mofrad
• Energy Game – Ali Tabe'
• Voice of Hope – Alireza Mirzazadeh
• Designing Hope – Hadi Dehghan-Pour
• House of Shelter – Shadi Bahari-Mehrabani

Two projects—Energy Game and Little Edison—received 100-million-toman production grants to support the creation of their next films.