A DIRECTOR behind the picture which bagged itself as the official UK entry for the 2023 Oscars will be the guest of honour at the Keswick Film Festival. 

Hassan Nazer, who is a British-Iranian writer and director based in Aberdeen, will head to the Alhambra Cinema on February 24 for the gala screening of Winners - which is the UK entry in the Best Foreign Language category at the Oscars.

He described Winners as as 'feel-good', where Slumdog Millionaire meets Cinema Paradiso. 

Hassan arrived in Scotland as a refugee in 2000. After securing indefinite leave to remain in the UK, he went on to study film at the University of Aberdeen and within a few years was self-funding his own films from his base in the city.

Winners is Hassan's first feature with support from the UK industry and has won the Audience Award at Edinburgh, Best UK film at Raindance and Best Discovery Film award at BIFA in 2022.

 

Hassan grew up watching lead actor Reza Naaji and dreamt that one day he would work with reza one day. Winners is a tribute to all Iranian artists and celebrates their work. Hassan's passion for film shiness through, indeed parts of the film are semi- autobiographical.

READ MORE: MINT Chinese Film Festival hopes to become an annual event