44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
 July 03 – July 11, 2009

Festival homepage  | Festival report

Ecumenical Award

The Ecumenical Jury of INTERFILM and SIGNIS awards the Ecumenical Film Prize to the film

Bist/Twenty
by Abdolreza Kahani, Iran, 2009

The culture and day-to-day reality of Iran is prominently displayed for us in this interesting and contemporary film. The emotional capacity of the characters and how they accept and handle their reality is admirable.
The setting takes place within a small cafeteriaregularly used for mourning receptions. As the characters show their human strength in coping with the challenge of  being deprived of the work they cherish, they illuminate the capacity of the human spirit to navigate difficult circumstances with courage, love, and hope.
The women in this film - as mothers, as wives, and as children - are especially presented with kindness and with an abundance of human strength.

Synopsis:
Twenty. That’s how many days remain before Mr. Soleimani closes his reception hall. The hall hosts mainly mourning receptions (and occasionally a wedding), and the sorrow they invariably bring has drained the owner so much that his psychologist has recommended closing down his business immediately. His employees, however, view his visits to a real estate broker with great suspicion, and the announcement of the hall’s sale and subsequent demolition completely crushes them. They are five ordinary people for whom the reception hall is more than a job. The disabled cook, whose wife helps out in the kitchen for no pay, even sleeps in the hall’s basement. For a young widow with a little girl, her job at the hall is the only refuge in a world run by men. And both waiters carefully hide from their boss that they have nowhere to go. The closing of the hall is a threat which each of them, in his or her own way, tries to thwart.... This subtle, psychological drama, masterfully walking the line between comedy and tragedy, creates a world of caring characters eloquently imprinted by the world of modern Iran. (Festival information)

The members of the jury (left to right: Heinz Kersten (Germany), Daniela Magálová (Slovakia), president, Ieva Pitruka (Latvia), Jan Eliáš (Czech Republic), Douglas P. Fahleson (USA), and Lothar Strüber (Germany)