The 5th Persian Film Festival closed successfully in Sydney having attracted thousands of audiences nationwide. The festival director, Amin Palangi, envisioned the Golden Gazelle Award in order to boost the reputation of Persian Cinema on an international level and recognise the excellence of filmmakers from the region among audiences and members of the industry in Australia.

The festival hosted several national and international guests. Davood Khayam presented the world premiere of his debut feature, Mohey. In partnership with AFTRS, we hosted a retrospective on Majid Barzegar presented for a retrospective of his films, A Very Ordinary Citizen, Parviz, and Valderrama. From Australia, the festival also presented Iranian-Australian filmmaker Vida Irani for the screening of her short film, Duet.

To celebrate the life and cinema of one of the world’s top filmmakers, Abbas Kiarostami, we dedicated a tribute to his cinema. Thanks to AFTRS, a special session was held in Sydney with the screening of one of his latest films, Certified Copy. The tribute to Kiarostami will continue in Melbourne in collaboration with Monash University with a more extensive program around his films later in the year.