According to the Public Relations of the Farabi Cinema Foundation, the film Gambler, directed by Mohsen Bahari, won the Special Jury Award at the 5th International "Beyond the Lake" Festival in North Macedonia, marking its debut on the festival circuit.
The International "Beyond the Lake" Film Festival, now in its fifth edition, focuses on the cinema of the Balkan and Mediterranean regions and annually hosts a selection of world cinema in North Macedonia.
In addition to Macedonia, Gambler has been selected as the sole official representative of Iranian cinema in the competition section of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Film Festival, and will be screened in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, within the next three days.
The socio-mystery film Gambler, produced by the Farabi Cinema Foundation and produced by Sajjad Nasrollahi, previously won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Debut Director at the Fajr Film Festival, alongside nominations for five Crystal Simorgh awards.
The Gambler is internationally distributed by the International Affairs Department of the Farabi Cinema Foundation.
The film features Kourosh Tahami, Armin Rahimian, Shabnam Ghorbani, Amir Nourozi, Roshan Roustampour, and Emad Emami in its cast. The synopsis reads: One of the country's banks is hit by a cyberattack—an incident that leads a seasoned agent to suspect one of the bank's programmers. The pursuit of truth and the restoration of national security begins from here.