'No Date, No Signature' garners two awards at Venice Film Festival
September 10, 2017 - Iranian film 'No Date, No Signature', directed by Vahid Jalilvand, won two awards in the 'Horizons' section of the 74th Venice Film Festival held in the Italian city from August 30 to September 9.
The feature received Horizons Awards for the best director, Jalilvand, and best actor, Navid Mohammadzadeh, at the closing ceremony of the event which was held on Saturday.
A beautifully shot psychological drama with comprehension issues, 'No Date, No Signature' narrates the story of a forensic pathologist, Dr. Nariman, who has a car accident with a motorcyclist and injures his 8-year-old son. He offers to take the child to a clinic nearby, but the father refuses his help and money. The next morning, in the hospital where he works, Dr. Nariman finds out that the little boy has been brought for an autopsy following a suspicious death. Dr. Nariman faces a dilemma now: Is he responsible for the child's death due to the accident or he died of food poisoning according to other doctors' diagnosis?
Prior to the screening of the Iranian flick at Venice filmfest, a number of American film magazines and news websites, such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety had, in separate reviews of the drama, commended Jalilvand's second feature as well as Mohammadzadeh's performance.
Variety described the film as "a handsomely made, exceptionally well-played drama that largely works despite a few significant plot holes", noting "all four main actors are in top form, but it's Mohammadzadeh who steals the show in his scene at the poultry plant, when his desperate monologue takes on an epic, Shakespearean quality as he throws all his physical force into a verbal storm of pained outrage".
After being presented with his award at the closing ceremony, Mohammadzadeh said, "I am proud to be an Iranian and delighted that [renowned Iranian female director] Rakhshan Bani Etemad who is one of the best filmmakers in the history of Iran's cinema is a member of the panel of jury of this year's edition of Venice film festival."