37th FIFF updates Festival of Festivals

The 37th Fajr International Film Festival has updated the lineup of movies in the non-competition section of Festival of Festivals (Cup of Divination), adding seven titles.

A set of 14 foreign films and four Iranian films will be shown in this section of the event.

Movies that have garnered awards in prestigious world festivals can enter the Festival of Festivals which is one of the main sections of the FIFF.

The update includes ‘Away from the Shore’, ‘X – The eXploited’, ‘Laughing’, ‘Hamid’, ‘Manta Ray’, ‘Sasha Was Here’ and ‘Deep Rivers’.

‘Away from the Shore’ by Kostadin Bonev is about a talented theater director who has been expelled from the capital for two years. He has been sent to a small provincial theater where he wants to stage a play.

‘X – The eXploited’ by Károly Ujj Mészáros depicts personal traumas which rise to surface as a murder mystery unfolds in present-day Budapest where talented investigative detective Éva must overcome her panic attacks in order to save her country and herself.

‘Laughing’ by Valerio Mastandrea tells the story of a woman and her ten-year-old son, dealing with the death of the husband/father who died at the factory where he worked. This is while the anticipation and the concentration grow around them as everyone waits for the funeral.

‘Hamid’ by Aijaz Khan is about an eight-year-old boy who learns that God’s number is 786 and decides to reach out to God by dialing it. He wants to talk to his father who his mother tells him has gone to Allah.

‘Manta Ray’ by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng narrates the story of some students at the renowned Lesdiguières Hotel School at the foot of the French Alps. They are on track to become chefs, headwaiters and housekeepers for the world’s most prestigious hotels and restaurants.

‘Sasha Was Here’ by Ernestas Jankauskas depicts a 12-year-old troublemaker named Sasha who loves to sing, read, eat, go fishing, play football and impersonate voices of other people. The very sensitive child rejected by biological father feels imprisoned in the orphanage. For the past two weeks Sasha waited for a hopeful chance to meet adoptive parents. That is when happily married Jurga and Tomas arrive.

‘Deep Rivers’ by Vladimir Bitokov is set in a forgotten corner of the Caucasus, where a family of lumberjacks chops wood to fulfill their contract. When the father is injured, the youngest brother, who left the impoverished region years before, is called back.

‘Summer Survivors’ by Marija Kavtaradze from Lithuania, ‘One Last Deal’ by Klaus Härö from Finland, ‘As I Fall’ by Magnus Meyer Arnesen from Norway, ‘The Little Comrade’ by Moonika Siimets from Estonia, ‘Animal’ by Armando Bo from Argentina and Spain, ‘Eternal Winter’ by Attila Szász from Hungary, as well as ‘A Translator’ by Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastián Barriuso from Cuba and Canada are the other foreign titles in Festival of Festivals.

Headed by Iranian filmmaker Reza Mirkarimi, the 37th FIFF will be held in the capital, Tehran, on April 18-26, 2019.

A national version of the Fajr Film Festival (FFF) kicked off on January 30 and wrapped up on February 11.

Since its establishment in 1982, the festival has played vital roles in the development of Iranian Cinema.

MG/MG