Iranian films going on Chicago screen

A lineup of Iranian films has been going on screen at the 29th Annual Festival of Films from Iran in Chicago, the US.

The event is honoring the veteran Iranian director Bahman Farmanara with screening his movies ‘Tale of the Sea’ and ‘I Want to’.

Popular Iranian titles ‘Sheeple’ by Houman Seyyedi and ‘Pig’ by Mani Haqiqi are also in the lineup of the festival which opened on Saturday.

‘Sheeple’ is about Shahin, a loud-mouthed fellow adopted years ago, who tries to establish his authority in a family run by the iron hand of his drug lord brother.

“Two brothers are running and making Crystal meth in a hidden laboratory in middle of nowhere of an urban jungle and they do care for the honor of their neighborhood. All of a sudden a mobile footage on their sister spread everywhere and causes some strange incidents,” a short synopsis for the flick reads.

‘Pig’ depicts the story of Hassan, a filmmaker who has not been able to make any films lately, but his admired starlet can’t wait any longer and wants to leave and work with another director.

His wife no longer loves him. His daughter has grown up and feels independent. His old mother is suffering from Alzheimer. A distressingly gorgeous woman tracks him everywhere he goes and wants him to give her a role in his films.

Yet worse, an assassin is killing directors of Iranian cinema in the city, but he has paid no attention to Hassan. Now he is hopeless; isn’t he the most important filmmaker of the city? Why then doesn’t the assassin care about him?

The state of affairs becomes more painful when Hassan is accused as the prime suspect for the assassination cases on social networks. Now he is forced to make up an intelligent plan to restore his destroyed reputation.

Jamshid Mahmoudi’s ‘Rona, Azim’s Mother’, ‘Sly’ by Kamal Tabrizi, and ‘Reza’ by Alireza Motamedi are in the screening program too.

Sponsored by the Muslim American Leadership Alliance, the festival is slated to come to an end on March 3.

MG/MG