According to IRNA, the documentary film Dog-Eater, produced by Fathollah Amiri and co-directed by Fathollah Amiri and Nima Askari, won the Best Short Documentary Award at the first Ankara Wildlife Documentary Film Festival. The film received this honor from the festival jury for its outstanding storytelling.
This international festival featured 691 documentaries in short and feature-length categories, submitted from 89 countries. In the end, the jury selected seven short and seven feature documentaries from nations including Iran, Russia, Spain, Germany, the U.S., Nepal, India, Austria, France, and Norway.
Fathollah Amiri, a well-known documentary filmmaker from Ilam, told IRNA that this was Turkey’s first wildlife documentary festival, with strong focus on scientific and artistic value, original topics, and storytelling quality. He added that Dog-Eater was the only film from Iran in the lineup and received a warm welcome from audiences, organizers, and an international panel of judges.
Despite being the festival’s first edition, Amiri emphasized its high standards in organization, participation, and selected works. He also noted a special panel discussion held on the sidelines of the event titled “Wildlife Filmmaking: Technology, Storytelling, and Creativity”, attended by filmmakers and nature lovers.
About the film, Amiri explained that Dog-Eater tells a true story from a village in North Khorasan, where locals noticed dogs being killed and eaten. After reporting it to environmental officers, it was discovered that a leopard was responsible. Despite the danger, the villagers demanded the leopard be released back into the wild — a powerful moment that reflects compassion and coexistence with nature.
