# Ava (2017 Iranian film)

Ava (Persian: آوا) is a 2017 internationally co-produced drama film directed and written by Sadaf Foroughi. The Persian-language film screened for the first time in the Discovery section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize and received an Honourable Mention for Best Canadian First Feature Film.
In December, TIFF named the film on its annual Canada's Top Ten list of the ten best Canadian films. The film received eight Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Foroughi), Best Actress (Mahour Jabbari) and Best Supporting Actress (Bahar Noohian). It was named as the winner of the Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature on 31 January 2018.

## Plot

Ava is a student at an all-girl Iranian high school. She is an excellent student and a gifted musician. But her mother hears a rumor that Ava has been seen with a boy, she overreacts and humiliates Ava. Her father is more supportive, but he often works out of the city. Her school's headmaster talks a lot about protecting her students, but she is clearly more concerned with the reputation of her school than the best interests of the girls in the school, and on several occasions threatens to expel Ava and other girls, often on the basis of unfounded rumors; she also cajoles students to snitch on each other.

## Cast

* Mahour Jabbari as Ava
* Vahid Aghapour as Father
* Parnian Akhtari as Anahita
* Sarah Alimoradi as Shirin
* Mona Ghiasi as Yasi
* Houman Hoursan as Nima
* Bahar Noohian as Mother
* Leili Rashidi as Ms. Dehkhoda
* Shayesteh Sajadi as Melody

## Reception
### Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96%, based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 7.45/10.

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Asia Pacific Screen Awards | 29 November 2018 | Best Youth Feature Film | Kiarash Anvari, Sadaf Foroughi | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Motion Picture | Kiarash Anvari, Sadaf Foroughi | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Director | Sadaf Foroughi | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Original Screenplay | Sadaf Foroughi | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Actress | Mahour Jabbari | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Supporting Actress | Bahar Noohian | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Cinematography | Sina Kermanizadeh | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Art Direction / Production Design | Siamak Karinejad | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best Editing | Kiarash Anvari | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 11 March 2018 | Best First Feature | Sadaf Foroughi | Won |
| Directors Guild of Canada | 2017 | DGC Discovery Award | Sadaf Foroughi | Nominated |
| Toronto International Film Festival | 7 – 17 September 2017 | Best Canadian First Film Honourable Mention | Sadaf Foroughi | Won |
| Toronto International Film Festival | 7 – 17 September 2017 | FIPRESCI Discovery Prize | Sadaf Foroughi | Won |