The third edition of the International Resistance Film Festival was held three years after the previous one, meaning that after the second edition of the festival was held in 2017, the third stage was held in 1980.

This edition had two major changes in appearance, first its director and then its time;

_”Hossein Vakhshuri”, who was the director of this event for the previous two editions, gave way to “Mohammad Hossein Haghighi”, Haghighi had been a member of the jury and reviewers in both previous festivals and also made his first feature film, “The Secret of the Dagger”, in 2018.

_The festival’s time was also moved from September to October to mark the eighth anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr in June.

This season of the festival also hosted 11 feature films, 5 short stories and 9 documentaries, which competed with each other from May 18 to June 3.

*Selection Committee

During this period, “Abdolrasoul Golbonhaghighi”, a film producer and director who later made the film “Heaven is Elsewhere”, “Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour”, a film director who has works such as “Flight at Last”, “Aqlima”, “Qadamgah”, “Mehman Darim” in his portfolio, and “Hamid Khakbazan”, a cultural expert, were the ones who reviewed and selected the works sent to the festival. What is interesting is that Asgarpour also made his first film (Flight at Last) in the same year.

*Jury Committee:

“Manouchehr Asgarinasb”, a director and producer of Iranian cinema, whose death was announced not long ago.

“Mohammad Davoudi”, a cinematographer and cinematographer of Iranian cinema, who had filmed the film “Summer of 58” the previous year.

“Morteza Sarhangi” writer, storyteller and journalist

“Saeed Sadeghi” graphic artist and cartoonist

“Abdullah Esfandiari” cultural expert

*Selected works

Once again, this edition of the festival witnessed a change in the type of selection of works and judging. The selected works were selected and appreciated in two categories: feature and short works.

*Featured works;

– Best film: “The Watcher” by Ebrahim Hatamikia

The story of this film, which was made in 1988, is that: The enemy has cut off the communication between the ambush line and the friendly forces, and the possibility of the region falling is very high. The forces’ confrontation and resistance against the enemy requires the presence of a watcher to direct heavy fire. Arif must cross a path that is under heavy fire from the Iraqi enemy to join the ambush line.

Hatamikia, 27, also took home two awards from the 7th Fajr Film Festival for this film.

-Best Director: Ebrahim Hatamikia for the films Watcher and Immigrant

Ebrahim Hatamikia also participated in this season of the festival with his Immigrant, which he made a year after his previous film, in 2019, and this work also won him honors.

The summary of the story of Immigrant states: Immigrant drones, which are controlled from the ground, are used to conduct reconnaissance operations behind enemy lines. Due to the limited range of the control device, the pilots are stationed at two opposite stations, facing each other and in the enemy lines. The pilot who infiltrates the enemy lines, while engaging the enemy, skillfully conducts reconnaissance operations and hands the plane over to the second pilot in the air. While he himself is martyred in the last moments.

Hatamikia’s second film brought its owner 4 awards in this edition of the festival and 6 awards in the 8th Fajr Festival.

Of course, it is a bit strange for a filmmaker to participate in a festival with two films and receive a Best Director award for both of his films, because it is not possible for two works by the same filmmaker to be made in two different time periods, with two different stories and themes, under different conditions and factors, and both to be of the same size. This issue may raise the suspicion that that period of the festival was either heavily politicized and neglected to maintain the professional structure and framework of festivals around the world, or that its organizers are in a confrontation with Hatamikia and cannot declare one of his works preferable to the other.

-Best Cinematographer: Mohammad Taqi Paksima for the film Mohajer

-Best Special Effects: Asghar Pourhajarian for the film Mohajer

Also, 6 honorary diplomas were awarded as follows:

-Imam Hussein (AS) Brigade for cooperation with film makers

-Center for the Development of Experimental and Semi-Professional Cinema as a supporter of Sacred Defense films

– Islamic Propaganda Organization Artistic Center as a worthy producer

-Kamal Tabrizi for directing the film “Passage”

“Passage”, which was produced by Ebrahim Hatamikia, tells the story of a man named “Mohsen” who serves in a government office. After six years of separation from his friend “Hassan Soltani”, he follows him to the front, but the separation of several years has created a cultural gap between the two, and this conflict is the theme of the story of this film.

-Mojtaba Raei, director of the film Man and Weapon

Story summary: The reconnaissance forces of one of the IRGC brigades are conducting reconnaissance to attack positions and liberate areas of the country. The operation is leaked by the enemy’s infiltrators and fifth column, and their attack is carried out to estimate the capabilities and personnel of the Iranian forces, as well as to stop the advance of the Iranian IRGC. The enemy forces retreat after causing damage to the Iranian positions and assuming that their commander is dead. Meanwhile, Mustafa, the commander of the Iranian forces, is wounded during the Iraqi attack and taken to the hospital. However, due to the sensitive situation and the urgent need to carry out the operation, he leaves the hospital and the attack begins on a large scale. With the sudden Iranian attack, the enemy is surprised and the Iranian forces’ operation ends successfully.

It may be worth mentioning that it is alive