The second film by Vahid Mousaian, won the Ecumenical Prize at the closing night of the 52nd Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival in Germany. Mr. Bahman Maghsoudlou, the producer of the film, was on hand to receive the award. Silence of the Sea was shown a total of eight times in Mannheim and Heidelberg to great success, with German critics and audiences alike unanimously praising the film, which deals with cultural identity and displacement.
The Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival is the second oldest festival in Germany (After Berlinale). It was founded in 1952 by Fritz Lang, one of the pantheon directors of world cinema. Every year more than 1000 films are submitted. The festival has been home to many premieres and has an eye towards featuring new, as yet unknown directing talents. Such famous directors as Francois Truffaut, Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Krzystof Kieslowski, Jim Jarmusch, and Lars Von Trier, all began their careers at Mannheim‑Heidelberg.
This year’s festival, which commenced on November 20th, featured 31 films (23 long, 8 shorts) from the 1000 submitted, and attracted an audience of 60,000 people.
