Morocco to host three Iran features

The Rabat International Festival of Film (FICAR) in Morocco has shortlisted three Iranian feature films for the 2019 official selection.  

The 95-minute ‘Dressage’ by Pouya Badkoubeh and Reza Mirkarimi’s ‘Castle of Dreams’ will be in the running at the International Competition section of the 24th edition of the event.

‘African Violet’ made by Mona Zandi-Haqiqi is also Iran representative at the Cinema of the World section of the FICAR.

Iranian family drama ‘Castle of Dreams’ has already won three awards at the Shanghai International Film Festival: the Best Actor Award, the Best Director Award, and the Golden Goblet.

The film has also won two awards at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia and was selected as the best film according to critics in the West and East Eurasian Film Festival (Orenburg, Russia).

Best director award of the 4th Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq and best film award at Int’l Film Award "East – West. Golden Arch" in Russia are also among the honors received by the flick.

‘Castle of Dreams’ has recently grabbed two awards at the 56th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey.

The 93-minute ‘African Violet’ is a compassionate drama of strength and reunion about Shokouh, a woman who finds out that her ex-husband, Fereydoun, has been placed in a nursing home by their children.

She and her second husband take an unconventional step to take care of Fereydoun in their own home.

‘African Violet’ has gone on screen at several global events, including the 2nd MSP Iranian Film Festival in the US, the 25th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in France, the 2019 Edinburgh Iranian Festival in Scotland, and the 24th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.

It won the special jury award at the 2019 Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon.

‘Dressage’ 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.

The Iranian feature has won Best First Film Award at the 36th Fajr International Film Festival in Iran, best film award at the 2019 International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva in Switzerland, 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, a jury award at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, Best Director award at the 17th Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh, best film award at the Iranian Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and College Students Prize of the 29th Ciné Junior International Youth Cinema Festival in France.

The Rabat International Author Film Festival (FICAR) (Festival International du Cinema D'Auteur de Rabat) is dedicated to the Author cinema, a true cinema of art and thought in all its forms, to brave films, demanding, intelligent, even radicals who destroy the clichés.

The film event is scheduled to be held in Rabat – the city of Taza, in northern Morocco on November 16-22, 2019.

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