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2009 Noor Film Festival Awards Reza Badiyi with Lifetime Achievement Award
By Ferial Mosharaf
Living in Southern California, I never seem to run out of options for going out to Iranian cultural events. This past May, I attended one that made me so proud to be an Iranian living in America that I had to share it with Payam’s readers.
The Noor Film Festival celebrated its third anniversary in 2009. The title of this year’s event was “Generations” and fittingly so because the lifetime achievement award was given to Mr. Reza Badiyi for dedicating 50 years of his life to television and clearing the path for generations of Iranians to follow. Mr. Siamak Ghahremani was chosen for the responsibility of acknowledging and rewarding our fellow countrymen around the world by hosting the event.
Out of 172 submissions, 18 films were selected from countries including Iran, Australia, Holland, Canada and the United States. The 2009 Judges were Rudi Bakhtiar, Brook Adams, Esai Morales, Ali Pourtash, and Habib Zargarpour. The majority of the prizes went to Donkey in Lahore (congratulation to Mr. Faramarz Rahbar from Australia) and several others were awarded, including Niloofar, The Florist,and Flags of Kaveh’s Castle.
The best part of the evening, by far, was the montage of selected pieces from Mr. Badiyi’s body of work, alongside his own narrative about how he came to direct the most famous shows of the past few decades. He was so proud to introduce himself as an Iranian-American. He spoke Farsi perfectly and with an elegance that matched his humility.
Reza Badiyi was born in Arak, Iran on April 17, 1930. He is the father of Mina Badie and the stepfather of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Badiyi is well known for directing episodes of many popular and distinct television series. Early in his career, he directed episodes of “Mission: Impossible,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Mannix,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “The Rockford Files” and “Police Squad!” His credits also include developing the memorable opening montages for “Hawaii Five-O” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” He also directed the definitive "fashion show" sequence of the third season of the popular "Doris Day Show.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, he directed episodes of “Falcon Crest,” “Cagney and Lacey,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer," “La Femme Nikita,” “Sliders,” and “Baywatch.”
I look forward to seeing another one of my favorite childhood actors or directors being honored next year. In the meantime, I’m urging everyone to sign up for the festival mailing list, become a sponsor or submit a film for next year’s event by visiting Noor Film Festival’s website: http://www.noorfilmfestival.com/index.html.
Let’s make Noor Film Festival 2010 even bigger than this year’s. More importantly, let’s continue supporting our fellow Iranian actors, directors, and filmmakers.
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