Chennai to spot Iran’s ‘The Warden’

The 17th edition of the Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) in India has scheduled to screen Iran’s award-winning ‘The Warden’.

Directed by Nima Javidi, the movie depicts an old prison in the late 1960s in southern Iran to be evacuated as it is close to the city’s airport which is under development.

The head of the prison, Major Nemat Jahed, and his officers are in the midst of transferring the prisoners to the new facility.

The film features popular actors such as Navid Mohammadzadeh, Parinaz Izadyar, Atila Pesyani, Setareh Pesyani, Habib Rezaee, Mani Haqiqi, Esmaeel Pourreza and Mohammad-Rasoul Safari.

Score mixing for ‘The Warden’ was handled by Adam Schmidt who had previously worked on projects such as ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘Inception’, and ‘Sherlock Holmes’.

Produced by Majid Motallebi, ‘The Warden’ was premiered on the opening day of the 37th Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

The film received the awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Navid Mohammadzadeh), Best Cinematography (Houman Behmanesh), and Best Film at the 21st Iran Cinema Celebration.

Being on screen at 24th International Film Festival of Kerala in India, the movie recently received the special student jury award at the 9th International Crime and Punishment Film Festival in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

ifilm has interviewed the script writer and director Javidi, the editor Emad Khodabakhsh, as well as the actors Esmaeel Pourreza and Mohammad-Rasoul Safari on ‘The Warden’. Click here to watch the report.

The 17th CIFF will also screen ‘6.5 per Meter’ by Saeed Roustaee, ‘Zero Floor’ by Ebrahim Ebrahimian, ‘Highlight’ by Saman Salour, and ‘Komur’ by Esmaeel Monsef, all from Iran, among the 95 selected titles in the World Movies section.

The CIFF is a festival aims at providing a common platform for the film fraternity to show its expression through films; understanding other cultures and project the excellence of this art form; contribute to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of the different nations in the context of the social and cultural ethos; and promote friendship and co-operation among peoples of the world.

Launched in 2002, it showcases international as well as Indian feature films. The festival screens more than 100 international feature films.

The 17th edition of the CIFF is slated for December 12-19, 2019.

MG/MG