Arbaeen pilgrims watching 3 movies

Arbaeen Pilgrimage office has been screening three movies for Arbaeen pilgrims.

According to Nasser Aminzadeh, an Iranian Arbaeen Pilgrimage official, four mobile cinemas are screening three movies with themes related to Muharram on Iran-Iraq border.

The mobile cinemas started the screenings on Friday October 11 in four border regions of Khosravi, Mehran, Chazabe, and Shalamcheh. The program will go on until October 19.

The movies on the screens are ‘The Fateful Day’ (1994) by Shahram Asadi, ‘Stranger’ (2012) by Hamid Bahmani, and ‘Never’ (2015) by Hadi Naeeji, Danesh Eqbashavi, Rouhollah Hejazi, and Hadi Moqaddam-Doust.

In ‘The Fateful Day’, Abdullah is a young Christian who’s recently converted to Islam. He’s madly in love with a Muslim girl and has asked for her hand over and over again. On his wedding day to Raheleh, he overhears some tribesmen questioning the intentions of Imam Hossein (PBUH) by going to Kufa. And then a voice calls on him to help. He abruptly leaves the ceremony and goes from desert to desert in search of Imam Hossein (PBUH) to put his doubts to rest. And when he reaches Karbala on the eve of Ashura he discovers the truth.

‘Stranger’ tells the story of an American woman who is serving in the US army. She finds documents on the fake scenario of Iraq freedom by the US government and tries to deliver them to her friend who is a journalist. “Julia tries to hand in some documents to her friend who is a reporter. While doing so, one of the scenarios of the liberation of Iraq is relieved,” a brief synopsis for the flick reads.

‘Never’ is an episodic movie. Each episode depicts a different story with Ashura theme.

As the world’s most populous gathering, millions of people annually take part in Arbaeen March ritual in Karbala to hold Arbaeen mourning ceremonies, the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions on Ashura.

Arbaeen mourning ceremony, as a religious observation, has been inscribed on the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The religious ritual of Arbaeen is performed to observe the end of the 40-day mourning period following the martyrdom of the third Shia imam, Imam Hussein (AS), and his loyal companions on Ashura.

In order to visit the holy shrines of Imam Hussein (AS) and his brother Hazrat Abbas (AS), pilgrims from various Iranian cities start their journey to the Iraqi city of Karbala (mostly on foot) some days before Arbaeen.

Imam's martyrdom occurred in the battle of Karbala, a city located in Iraq.

MG/AG