Indian Kerala fest to screen Iranian ‘Castle of Dreams’

The 24th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in India has scheduled to screen Iranian ‘Castle of Dreams’.

Directed and produced by Reza Mirkarimi, the film tells the story of a 42-year-old father of two. He unintentionally kills a relative. A court of law rules the murder was accidental.

Getting out of prison, he leaves his wife and kids and moves to another city. After a while the father must go back to his home town as his wife is brain-dead.

He has to take his son and daughter away from their mother who is hospitalized. Although reluctant, he tries every means to fulfill the children’s fantasy of building a dream castle that was drawn by their mother.

Starring role of the film has been portrayed by Hamed Behdad who won the Best Actor award from the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival in China.

The 86-minute film brought Mirkarimi the Best Director award and the highest prize at the Shanghai event.

‘Castle of Dreams’ also received the awards for best film and best director at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia as well as the Simorgh Crystal awards for Best Screenplay and Best Music at the 2019 Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

It won some other awards at events such as the 4th Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq, the 23rd Family Film Awards in the US, the 20th Italian Asiatica Film Festival, the 56th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey, the 39th Cambridge Film Festival in the UK, and a nomination at the 13th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Australia.

The film has hit the screen at several global events, including the 20th Asiatica Film Festival in Italy, the 9th Iranian Film Festival Australia, the 2019 Rabat International Festival of Film in Morocco, the 43rd Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, and the 2019 Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia.

ifilm has interviewed the actor Behdad, the actresses Zhila Shahi, Youna Tadayyon and Niousha Alipour, as well as the director of ‘Castle of Dreams’. Click here to watch the report.

Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya has been chosen as the chairperson of the jury panel at the 24th IFFK in India.

The IFFK is one of the prominent film festivals in India. The event has come to be known as Asia’s best managed and probably the world’s most people-centered film festival.

The festival hosts renowned directors, technicians and spectators from around the world. It aims to present a selection of the best international films.

The IFFK has an exclusive competitive section for films from Asian, African and Latin American countries.

The 24th edition of the IFFK is slated for December 6-13, 2019.

MG/MG