‘Zalava’ releases international teaser

Iranian drama-horror ‘Zalava’ has released international teaser trailer.   

Arsalan Amiri’s directorial debut, which narrates an imaginary story in an imaginary land with imaginary people in the 70s, released the international teaser as it gets close to screening at the 2021 Venice International Film Critics' Week on September 1-11.

Following Venice screening, the 93-minute ‘Zalava’ will head to the Midnight Maddens section of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.

The international sales rights of ‘Zalava’ are owned by Denmark-based LevelK Company.

The inter-genre film narrates the tale of people’s fear of an unknown phenomenon and their efforts to bring back security to the region.

“Set in 1978, the film hones in on the inhabitants of a small village in Iran called Zalava who claim there is a demon among them. Massoud, a young police officer who investigates the claim encounters an exorcist attempting to rid the village of the demon.

When he arrests the exorcist on charges of fraud, the villagers revolt and anger escalates. Massoud and his lover, a government doctor, soon find themselves trapped in a cursed house, surrounded by villagers who believe they are both possessed by the demon,” comes in Deadline Hollywood website as the summery of the film.

Navid Pour-Faraj, Pouria Rahimi-Sam and Hoda Zeinolabedin have played key roles in the film.

The Kurdish and Persian language film was coproduced by Samira and Rouhollah Baradari for Touba Films from a script by Ida Panahandeh, Amiri and Tahmineh Bahram.

‘Zalava’ was premiered at the 39th edition of the Fajr Film Festival in Iran, where it won two awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Rahimi-Sam) and Best Screenplay (Amiri, Ida Panahandeh and Tahmineh Bahram).

The 19th Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum (HAF) also hosted ‘Zalava’ on March 15–17, 2021.   

MM/FM