Iranian ‘Dressage’ to vie in Bangladesh

Iranian feature ‘Dressage’ has been selected to compete at the 17th edition of the Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bangladesh.

Directed by Pouya Badkoubeh, the 95-minute feature 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.

Negar Moqaddam, Ali Mosaffa, Shabnam Moqaddami, Houshang Tavakkoli, Ali-Reza Aqakhani, Ali-Reza Sanifar, Jalal Fatemi, Yasna Mirtahmasb, and Siamak Adib are among the cast.

The Iranian feature has won Best First Film Award at the 36th Fajr International Film Festival in Iran, best debut film at the 4th CineIran Festival in Canada, Golden Gazelle Award for Best Feature Film at the 7th Persian International Film Festival in Australia, and a jury award at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.

It has gone on screen at several global festivals, including the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival in Australia, the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival in China, the 11th Granada International Film Festival in Spain, the 65th Sydney International Film Festival in Australia, the 37th Vancouver International Film Festival in Canada, the 2018 Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Denmark, the 16th Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea, the 8th Istanbul International Crime and Punishment Film Festival in Turkey, the 32nd Cineuropa Film Festival in Spain, the 2018 Ale Kino International Young Audience Film Festival in Poland, and the 16th Chennai International Film Festival in India.

The 17th DIFF, themed “Better Film, Better Audience, Better Society”, will feature some 170 films by filmmakers from about 60 countries around the world.

Various competition sections will be held at this DIFF, highlighting a wide range of interests from Asian to international cinema, children’s films, women filmmakers, short and independent films, and spiritual films.

The 17th DIFF is slated for January 10-18, 2019, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

MG/MG