26th Fajr International Film Festival
The 26th International Fajr Film Festival were held from February 1 to February 11, 2008 in Tehran, Iran. It consisted of seven competitions: Seeking the Truth ( Competition of Spiritual Cinema), Eye for the Real (Competition of Iranian Documentary Cinema) held in two subsections for long films and short and medium-length films, Contending for Symorgh (Competition of Iranian Cinema — Featured Films), Eastern Vista (Competition of Asian Cinema), World Panorama (International Competition) in two subsections for short films and featured films. Awards were given to the winners in the closing ceremony on February 11.
National Films
Featured Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film: As Simple As This produced by Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Director: Majid Majidi for The Song of Sparrows
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Screenplay: As Simple As This jointly written by Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi and Shadmehr Rastin
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Actor: Amin Hayai (Night)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Actress: Hengameh Ghaziani (As Simple As This)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Supporting Actor: Mohsen Tanabandeh (A Testimonial For God)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Supporting Actress: Mahtab Nasirpour (The Son Of Soil)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Editor: Hasan Hasandoost (The Song of Sparrows)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Cinematographer: Hossein Jafarian (The Wall)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Composer: Hossein Alizadeh (The Song of Sparrows)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Makeup Artist: Saeid Malekan (The Song of Sparrows)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Sound: Iraj Shahzadi (Green Fire)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Costume and Stage Designer: Zhila Mehrjouei and Sholeh Navab Tehrani (Green Fire)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Special Effects: Hosein Talabeigi (Flags Of The Castle Of Kaveh)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best First Film Director: Seyyed Rouhollah Hejazi (In The Middle of Clouds)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film (Spectators' Choice): A Women Is Always Involved produced by Mohsen Aliakbari
Short Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Short Film: Boomerang directed by Dariush Gharibzadeh
Documentaries
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Documentary Filmmaker: Mehdi Moniri (Tinar)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Short Documentary Filmmaker: Hamed Khosravi (The Gloomy Song of Mountains)
Spiritual Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film: The Island by Popel Lotkin
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Director: The Professor And His Favorite Equation by Takashi Kuizomi
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Screenplay: The Son Of Soil jointly written by Mohammad Ali Ahangar and Mohammad Reza Gohari
Inter-religious Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film: Music Box by Farzad Motamen
International Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film: Wind Waves In The Meadow by Jozan Film Institute
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Juries Special Award: Très bien, merci produced by Paulo Branco and directed by Emmanuelle Cuau (Portugal)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Director: Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey) for Yumurta (aka Egg)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Screenplay: El Violin (The Violin) by Francisco Vargas (Mexico)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film (Spectators' Choice): Très bien, merci
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Technical And Artistic Achievement: Özgür Eken (Yumurta)
Asian Films
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Film: In The Historical Expectancy by Katsuyuki Avana
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Director: Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi (As Simple As This)
- Crystal Simorgh Prize for Best Screenplay: As Simple As This jointly written by Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi and Shadmehr Rastin