Hong Kong's 2009 Asian Film Festival has awarded Iranian filmmaker Shalizeh Arefpour's first feature-length production Heiran.

According to Mehr News Agency, the 88-minute film received the New Talent Award of the festival, held from Oct. 15 to 30.

Arefpour's film competed with Risky Liu's Pastry (Hong Kong), Naito Takatsugu's Dark Harbor (Japan), Ho Tzu Nyen's Here (Singapore), Bono Lee's Beijing is Coming (Hong Kong, China), Zhao Yae's Jalainur (China), Laxmikant Shetgaonkar's Man Behind the Bridge (India) and Yang Ik-june's Breathless (Korea).

Heiran is the story of a 17-year-old Iranian girl who falls in love with an Afghan student (Heiran) and marries him against her family's will.

Shalizeh Arefpour, best known for her documentaries, made her first film Under the Skin of Baran in 2001 and her first short film Shadow of the Moon was screened in 2004.

The Goal in the Dark (2003) and Inside Me (2004) are her other documentaries.

TE/HGH