‘Zalava’ grabs award at the Fantastic Fest in US

Arsalan Amiri’s directorial debut, won the best film award at the Next Wave competition section of the 2021 edition of the event.

The film narrates an imaginary story in an imaginary land with imaginary people in the 70s.

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.

“Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the US, specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world.

The festival is dedicated to championing challenging and thought-provoking cinema, celebrating new voices and new stories from around the world and supporting new filmmakers,” the media wrote.

This year’s edition of the event was held on September 23-30.

FM/FM