Resistance fest announces doc lineup

The 15th edition of the Resistance International Film Festival (RIFF) has revealed the documentary competition lineup.

Unveiling the lineup on Wednesday, the organizers announced that 22 films, including 13 from foreign filmmakers, will be screened in this category.

‘Khashoggi Is Not Alone’ from a Saudi Arabian filmmaker, who did not reveal his/her name to the organizers of the festival for security reasons, is one of the anticipated titles. The film is about the adverse condition facing journalists in Saudi Arabia.

The documentary ‘I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts’ by Yusuf Zine from Canada will also be screened. It is about refugee youths who take to the stage to depict their families’ harrowing experiences during the Burmese genocide of Rohingya Muslims.

The US production ‘The Occupation of the American Mind’ by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp is also in the lineup. It is about Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip that have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world — except the US. The doc takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the US.

‘The Coming War on China’ by John Pilger from Australia and ‘On a Knife Edge’ by Jeremy Williams from the US will also vie in the festival.

Some of the documentaries by Iranian filmmakers to be screened in this section are ‘Fire and Pomegranates’ by Heidar Bani-Hamzeh and ‘Women with Gunpowder Earrings’ by Reza Farahmand.

‘Fire and Pomegranates’ is a documentary about the Azerbaijani Shia center of Nardaran.

‘Women with Gunpowder Earrings’ is about Nur, a female journalist who covers stories about Syrian and Iraqi women and children in the war against the Daesh terrorists.

This edition of the festival has received more than 1600 submissions, including feature, short and documentary films, from more than 70 countries around the globe.

Most of the submissions are from the US and France. Filmmakers from Germany, Turkey, England, Italy, Canada, Spain, Brazil and dozens of other countries have also applied to take part at the event.

The RIFF is dedicated to productions on wars and the repercussions of armed conflicts in the world.

It also puts a spotlight on the resistance of the Palestinian people against the Zionist regime, Daesh and their terrorist attacks in the region, and the world’s tyrants and their backing of Daesh.

The RIFF is being organized every year by the Revayat Cultural Foundation and the Film Association of the Islamic Revolution and the Sacred Defense in collaboration with other cultural organizations.

The 15th edition of the RIFF will be held on November 26-December 1, 2018, at Felestin Theater Hall in Tehran.

MG/MG