Germany enjoying Iranian ‘Walnut’

The 42nd LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers in Germany has been screening Iranian feature ‘Walnut’.

Directed by Mohammad-Reza Haji-Gholami, the film is on screen at the ‘Feature Film Competition 8+’ section of the festival, competing with seven titles from India, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and Singapore.

Written by Maral Sajjadi and Haji-Gholami, the film tells the story of a child who feels like his hands are getting black due to a sense of guilt for what he has done wrong.

The feeling coincides with disputes between his parents and their consequent separation.

On a trip with his mother to a remote village in the desert to watch the lunar eclipse, he has to deal with and accept the two concepts of guilt and separation.

“Fresh walnuts are irresistibly delicious! Soheil’s and Vali’s first act as new friends is to steal nuts from the aunt. During the loud and colorful wedding hustle and bustle in Soheil’s mother’s Iranian home village, this is not even noticeable. But a bad conscience is not far away: Soheil is terribly afraid to get black hands from the guilt, as one believes in the village. And why didn’t Soheil’s father travel with him? Something is wrong with his parents. Then, in the silvery light of a lunar eclipse, everything becomes more acute all at once,” the LUCAS website wrote.

Born in 1981, Haji-Gholami is an Iranian film director of numerous short films and documentaries. For his feature film debut ‘Stammer’ he received the Golden Butterfly award for best director at the 31st Children and Youth film festival in Isfahan.

The LUCAS is Germany’s longest standing film festival for young audiences.

It presents outstanding feature, documentary, animated and experimental films from all over the world in five competition sections.

The 42nd LUCAS has been slated for September 19–26, 2019 in Frankfurt, Offenbach and Wiesbaden.

MG/MG