French festival screens Iranian films

The 23rd edition of the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema has started screening three Iranian movies.

Beginning on February 8, the French event is scheduled to screen ‘Being Born’ directed by Mohsen Abdolvahab, ‘Delbaran’ directed by Abolfazl Jalili, and ‘The Cow’ directed by Dariush Mehrjoui.

Also written by Abdolvahab, ‘Being Born’ is to go on screen on February 11 and 12 in the competition section of the event.

Abdolvahab’s movie, dealing with the universal question of abortion, portrays an Iranian middle class family who has to come along with a number of challenges.

Iranian film director Fahrad and his wife Pari, who is a theater actress, live happily with their son in Tehran. They plan to buy a flat, but when Fahrad discovers she is pregnant, the young couple think it is not wise to have a second child in the family.

Also written and edited by Jalili, ‘Delbaran’ is scheduled for February 12 and 14 in out of competition section.

This movie tells the story of a fourteen-year-old Afghan boy who succeeds to cross the Afghanistan-Iran border. A few kilometers away he finds shelter in place called “Delbaran”, where an old man and his wife manage a truck stop.

The old couple welcome the Afghan boy as their son; however, a persistent patrol officer often visits the couple’s house looking for illegal Afghan immigrants.

Also written by Mehrjoui and Gholam-Hossein Saedi, ‘The Cow’ is a classic Iranian movie which was screened on February 8.

A major work of Iranian cinema made in 1969, the movie tells the story of Mash Hassan who lives in a poor remote village.

Considering his cow as his most precious treasure, he spoils her as though she was his own wife, but once that he leaves the village, his cow dies. Coming back to the village, the inhabitants devote try to hide the terrible news from him and pretend the cow has disappeared.

Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is on the jury panel of this edition of the French event.

Launched in 1995, the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Festival international des cinémas d'Asie) is an annual special-interest film festival focusing on the cinemas of Asia.

The 23rd edition of the festival is slated for February 7-14 in Vesoul, France.

MG/HY