Masahiro Sugano wins “Best Editing” awards from international festivals

If Hafez Wrote a Haiku for Cowboys poster, with filmmaker, Sugano, speaking with another person in a barren desert.

Senior Artist-in-Residence Masahiro Sugano is earning international recognition for his third feature film, “If Hafez Wrote a Haiku for Cowboys,” which recently received “Best Editing” awards from both the Hong Kong Indie Film Festival and the Melbourne Independent Film Festival.

The film made its debut at the Sound Screen Film Festival in Ravenna, Italy, and marks the culmination of eight years of creative development. Since its premiere, the feature has screened and been selected for festivals across Hong Kong, Melbourne, Geneva, Toronto, Abu Dhabi and Chicago. The project grew out of Sugano’s 2018 residency at Rah Residency in Tehran, Iran supported by his faculty research fund.

Filmed in a cinéma vérité style across eight cities in Iran, Japan and the United States, and edited with the rhythm and precision of a haiku, the feature presents 18 interconnected fictional vignettes exploring themes of regret, longing and love. Unfolding through a split-screen visual tapestry, the film follows characters including a Japanese father reconnecting with his estranged daughter, a young Iranian woman searching for a red car to impress a blind date, a Black American cowboy navigating the city by bicycle and many other unique characters.

The film is scheduled to screen at several international festivals, including the Almamoura Film Festival (UAE), Persia Film Awards (Canada), Hong Kong Indie Film Festival (China), Geneva Golden Lion Film Festival (Switzerland), and the Melbourne Independent Film Festival (Australia).

The film’s awards celebrate Sugano’s innovative editing, which seamlessly navigates multiple characters, cities, and parallel narratives through a visually complex split-screen format.