An Iranian film about a chaotic family on a road trip won the top prize at BFI London Film Festival on Sunday.
In 2020, that accolade went to Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, which also went on to bag the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.
Written and directed by Panah Panahi, Hit the Road is the Iranian director's debut feature. He is the son of Jafar Panahi, one of the most respected Iranian filmmakers and who is currently banned from engaging in filmmaking in his home country.
The film, which first premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, has received excellent reviews since its screening. It follows the story of a family who are getting ready to say goodbye to one of its own. In the back seat of their borrowed vehicle is the dad, who has a broken leg, while the mother tries to laugh when she's not holding back tears. The youngest keeps bursting into car karaoke and the older brother, who is leaving the country, remains quiet.
Hit the Road has been described as tender and touching, as it follows the dynamics of a family of four while masterfully switching emotions throughout the film.
The Sutherland Award for First Feature Film went to Belgian director Laura Wandel’s Playground, while the Grierson Award for Best Documentary went to Liz Garbus’s Becoming Cousteau, on the life of French explorer Jacques Cousteau.
Mounia Akl’s drama Costa Brava, Lebanon, starring Nadine Labaki and Saleh Bakri, won the festival’s Audience Award.
Full list of awards at BFI London Film Festival
Official Competition (Best Film Award): Hit the Road by Panah Panahi
First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award): Playground by Laura Wandel
Documentary Competition (Grierson Award): Becoming Cousteau by Liz Garbus
Immersive Art and XR Competition: Only Expansion by Duncan Speakman
Short Film Competition (Short Film Award): Love, Dad by Diana Cam Van Nguyen
Audience Award: Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl
The permutations for UAE going to the 2018 World Cup finals
To qualify automatically
UAE must beat Iraq.
Australia must lose in Japan and at home to Thailand, with their losing margins and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
To finish third and go into a play-off with the other third-placed AFC side for a chance to reach the inter-confederation play-off match
UAE must beat Iraq.
Saudi Arabia must lose to Japan, with their losing margin and the UAE's winning margin over Iraq being enough to overturn a goal difference gap of eight.
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
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The biog
Name: Sarah Al Senaani
Age: 35
Martial status: Married with three children - aged 8, 6 and 2
Education: Masters of arts in cultural communication and tourism
Favourite movie: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Favourite hobbies: Art and horseback ridding
Occupation: Communication specialist at a government agency and the owner of Atelier
Favourite cuisine: Definitely Emirati - harees is my favourite dish
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THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
