The Seventh Shanghai International Film Festival has awarded its Best Film Award to Iranian film Tradition of Lover Killing .

Directed by Khosro Masum, the film demonstrates the impoverished life of the Iranian people living at the bottom of the social ladder by telling a story about people forced into illicit logging to make a living, for which they are eventually jailed.

Sixteen films, nine from Europe and seven from Asia, competed for the Jin Jue Award at the nine-day festival, which opened on June 5.

The annual Shanghai International Film Festival, initiated in 1993, is the only of its kind in China and one of the two Category A international film festivals in Asia.

(CRI June 14, 2004)