The closing and award ceremony of the 6th edition of Herat International Women’s Film Festival kicked off on Thursday evening, November 19 at Darul Aman new-constructed historical palace in Kabul city, with presence of national and international invitees from different countries; cinema professionals, movie stars, women and human rights activists and government authorities, including the Minister of Information and culture Mr. Tahir Zahir and Nargis Abyar, director of acclaimed Iranian drama “Track 143”, “Breath” and “When the Moon Was Full” who served as a jury member for the International Narrative Feature Films Competition.
The ceremony began with a live music performance by the Zohra Orchestra (Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra) and was presented jointly by one of the co-founders and program managers of the festival and TOLO TV’s famous presenter Aimal Asifi, and Manizha Abassi, writer and poet. Initially, the presenters offered their heartfelt thanks, on behalf of the festival, to the security forces for securing the festival and awarded them merit certificates, and thanks were given to all the festival supporters for their collaboration.
Then came the announcement of the awards of each section along with video messages from the international jury members. Later on, the announcers referred to the special guests of this year’s edition, among them well-known Iranian filmmaker Afshin Hashemi, for being part of the 6th edition of the festival. Hashemi’s “Goodbye Shirazi Girl” also received a certificate of appreciation for the different view of women in his film. The ceremony continued with live music performances and ended up with the presentation of the awards to the winners.
The 6th Herat International Women’s Film Festival winners in 5 categories are listed below:
International Narrative Feature Films Competition:
International Short Narrative and Animation Films Competition:
International Documentary Short and Feature Films Competition:
National Category Competition:
Award Certificate for Best Actor: Ahmad Nawed Naween for “Story of a Story” (Afghanistan).