Iran’s ‘The Kites’ flying over Chile Lebu festival

Iranian flick ‘The Kites’ has been competing at the international short fiction film competition of the Lebu International Film Festival (CINELEBU) in Chile.

Directed by Seyyed-Payam Hosseini, the short film tells the story of a girl whose kite flies away along the Iraqi-Iranian border. She calls three boys for help.

However, the children are not only separated by a river, but also by the explosive legacies of past wars. Then, they try to talk over the lost kite.

‘The Kites’ has previously been screened at some global events, including the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland, the Motovun Film Festival in Croatia, the Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan, the Festival Curtas Vila do Conde in Portugal, the Festival Curta Cinema - Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival in Brazil, and the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in Germany.

The Berlinale jury praised ‘The Kites’, writing it “tells us about borders, how they can be dizzying, terrifying and arbitrary. And because it’s a poetic tale that shows us that language can go beyond words and that empathy can be felt from afar.”

More than 200 films are competing in the 2021 edition of the CINELEBU, which is the most important Chilean short film event.

Due to the pandemic, the festival is organized online this year.

The CINELEBU director Claudia Pino said “We believe that holding the festival online is a tremendous opportunity, since it will allow us to reach audiences from all over the world, while previously, many of them could not travel and participate in the different activities of the event in person”.

Opened on March 13 in the Chilean city, the event will run until March 21.

MG/MG