The Iranian star Leila Hatami won the Best Actress Award for her role in “The Last Step” at the closing ceremony of the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic on Saturday. She received the award for her portrayal of a beautiful and gifted Iranian film star named Leila in “The Last Step”, which has been directed by her husband Ali Mosaffa.
The movie focuses on Leila’s recently deceased husband who becomes the somewhat unreliable narrator of a playful and delicately ironic story about a complicated but loving marital relationship. The film also won the festival’s Award of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) “for the unsettling way it plays with memory, with strong performances and a fresh take on Iranian cinema.”
In addition, the film’s poster designed by the Iranian artist Mohammad-Hossein Shahidi was selected as the best poster of the festival based on an online poll. “Iranian films usually feature a head-shot of the main protagonist. We wanted to do something else and I had this idea to use a painting. I asked my painter friend Shahidi, showed him some stills and this is what he came up with. Then we just adjusted it a little,” Mosaffa said.
Iranian films “Modest Reception” directed by Mani Haqiqi and “A Respectable Family” by Masud Bakhshi were also screened in the Another View Section of the festival.
“The Almost Man” directed by Martin Lund from Norway was selected as the best film and received the festival’s Grand Prix — a Crystal Globe. “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy” by Marco Tullio Giordana from Italy won the Special Jury Prize of the festival.
