Chennai screening Iranian lineup

The 16th edition of the Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) in India has been screening a lineup of Iranian features.

The lineup includes ‘Axing’, ‘Dressage’, ‘Hattrick’, ‘Dayan’, ‘Orange Days’, and ‘Iro’.

Directed by Behrouz Shoeibi, ‘Axing’ is a social drama that features a different narrative on how people confront addiction and drug abuse.

“There is nothing harder in life than seeing someone you love decided to be alone. You enjoy seeing her and hearing her voice, but she closed the doors and chooses loneliness in your place ... There is nothing harder in life than being left alone. You see your loved ones and you love them, but they all deny you. They closed doors on you and you are alone. Loneliness is a swamp,” a synopsis for the film read.

Directed by Pouya Badkoubeh, ‘Dressage’ tells the story of Golsa and her friends who, motivated primarily by boredom rather than greed, decide to rob a corner shop.

While evaluating the robbery, they are dismayed to realize that they forgot to bring along the CCTV footage; so one of them must return to the crime scene and the vote falls on Golsa.

Directed by Ramtin Lavvafi, a brief synopsis of ‘Hattrick’ reads “A dull quote says people do not change overnight as we fail to look at them every so often.”

Directed by Behrouz Nouranipour, ‘Dayan’ is a movie depicting the struggles of a group of 4000 refugees fleeing the fear and terror caused by the Daesh terrorist group in the Kurdistan region. Stuck in the middle of a war and not being able to reunite with their loved ones, these families were forced to make some tough decisions.

Directed by Arash Lahouti, ‘Orange Days’ tells the story of Aban, the only female contractor in the cutthroat and male-dominated orange harvesting industry, who enters a competition to win a large contract. Her efforts remain futile while anyone involved in her story tries to fail her.

Directed by Hadi Mohaqqeq, ‘Iro’ (dubbed into ‘Here’ in English) narrates the story of an isolated and lonely man living in the mountains. Despite all his efforts in saving his son's life, he cannot change Sohrab's, his son, death sentence and he is executed. Now that he has buried Sohrab's body, he has his grandson to take care of.

The CIFF is a festival organized in the city of Chennai, India, by the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation with the support of the government of Tamil Nadu, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and the Film Federation of India.

The festival aims at providing a common platform for the film fraternity to show its expression through films; understanding other cultures and project the excellence of this art form; contribute to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of the different nations in the context of the social and cultural ethos; and promote friendship and co-operation among peoples of the world.

Launched in 2002, it showcases international as well as Indian feature films. The festival screens more than 100 international feature films.

The 16th edition of the CIFF has been slated for December 13-20, 2018.

MG/MG