Beloit Filmfest in US hosts ‘Snail’, ‘Oblivion’

A total of two short films from Iran are competing at the Short Film Competition section of the 3rd edition of Beloit International Film Festival in the US.

‘Snail’ by Mohammad Torivarian is one of Iran’s representatives at the festival, narrating three young boys along with a smuggler who are clandestinely smuggling across the Iran-Turkey border.

The smuggler only passes masculines through the border. In the middle of the way, he suddenly realizes that one of the passengers is hermaphrodite.

Fatemeh Mohammadi has also attended the event with her 15-min drama ‘Oblivion’, featuring ifilm star Maryam Boubani who might be remembered from ‘Madness of Love’, ‘Until Being with Sorayya’, ‘A Mother's Sacrifices’ and many more.  

Official synopsis of ‘Oblivion’ as put by the Beloit website reads, “Mehrbanoo tries everything to make her husband’s life, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, worth living. Rental issues and the absence of their children and grandchildren take their toll in this sensitive portrayal.”

ifilm has reported on an earlier note that ‘Lunch Time’ by Alireza Ghasemi is also among the participants from Iran.

The 16-min ‘Lunch Time’ is about a 16-year-old girl who has come to the hospital to identify the body of her mother.  

“The people in charge at the hospital – due to her young age – won’t let her into the morgue and ask her to bring her guardian instead. However, the girl insists that most of her family is in jail for criminal activities. Finally, after her insistence, they agree to let her into the morgue…”

The Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival in Beloit, Wisconsin, usually held in mid February.

The first edition of the festival took place in 2006. BIFF has evolved from a single weekend to now span ten days and seven venues.

The 13th edition of the event launched on February 22 and will wrap up on March 3, 2019.

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