Four films from the Kurdistan Region participate in the festival for the first time
The 15th edition of the 100-Second International Film Festival was held in Tehran, Iran, featuring 170 films from filmmakers in 11 countries, including four Kurdish films from the Kurdistan Region.
Mohaddeseh Pirhadi, head of the festival, said the event is one of Iran’s longest-running and best-known film festivals dedicated to films with a maximum duration of 100 seconds.
She said the 170 selected films competed across four main sections: competition, national, international and “A Film for the Homeland.”
For the first time in the festival’s history, four documentary films from the Kurdistan Region were submitted to the event. According to Pirhadi, one of them reached the final stage and was selected for the festival program.
“The four documentaries were sent to the festival from the Kurdistan Region for the first time in the history of the festival, and one of them was able to reach the final stage and be selected for the festival section,” Pirhadi said.
The festival presented awards in several categories, including narrative film, documentary, animation and artificial intelligence.
Pirhadi explained that the narrative film awards recognized short films with strong cinematic and storytelling elements, while the documentary awards focused on works that effectively presented events and real-life subjects within the 100-second format.
The animation awards recognized outstanding cartoons and short animated films. A special artificial intelligence section was also introduced for the first time this year, with awards presented to selected works in the new category.
Among the Kurdish works recognized at the festival was the animation Watan, directed by Hassan Ajami, which received recognition from the jury.
The festival also introduced another new award titled “Kite,” dedicated to films for infants and children. Pirhadi said the Kite Award is the only award at the festival presented directly to a producer.
The award was given to Ali Salehi for producing the film Mehr Gozideh.
The 100-Second International Film Festival was held over five days in Tehran. The event provides filmmakers with a platform to present very short works that use limited time to tell stories, document real-life events or explore creative cinematic ideas.
The participation of four Kurdish films from the Kurdistan Region marked the first time Kurdish filmmakers had been represented at the festival, according to its organizers.