TEHRAN – The Iranian film “Poultry Farm,” written and directed by Mohammad Reza Ardalan, won the Best Director award at the Other Narratives section of the 14th Asian Film Festival Barcelona, which was held in Barcelona, Spain, from October 22 to November 1.
The jury presented the award to the film for its ability to create an atmosphere of tension and maintain suspense until the end, IRNA reported.
“The film particularly stands out for the evolution of the young protagonist and the way the director uses the isolation of the farm and the relationships between the characters to show the consequences of war, the vulnerability of refugees and undocumented people, as well as exploitation, discrimination, and abuses of power,” the jury statement read.
A production of 2026, the 97-minute film depicts Hawar, a homeless, undocumented Kurdish young boy, who crosses the border between Iraq and Iran illegally in search of work. He eventually finds employment at a remote poultry farm on the outskirts of Tehran. When the only worker with whom he befriends disappears without a trace, Hawar begins an investigation that leads him into a world marked by exploitation, fear, and violence.
Combining the mystery thriller with social drama, “Poultry Farm” uses an isolated and oppressive setting to portray the vulnerability of invisible migrants and the brutality of power structures. It is a tense and humanist film, where the terror lies in the cruelty of the real world.
Mohammad Reza Ardalan is a Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker and screenwriter. He studied cinema and screenwriting at Tehran’s Art University and Soore University, and has worked as an assistant director on several short films. His directing credits include the short film “Quarantine” (2020), which won Best Director at the Kobani International Film Festival.
The Asian Film Festival Barcelona is organized by Casa Asia. True to its commitment to promoting contemporary Asian cinema, the festival presents more than one hundred films representing the latest independent, experimental, and auteur cinema from across the continent.
This edition paid particular attention to emerging film industries in countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Cambodia, as well as established industries with a long history at the festival, including Iran, India, China, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.
The program also included films from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as productions from Australia and New Zealand.
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