Iranian films added to DIFF section lineup

Two more Iranian films are set to be screened at the 19th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bangladesh.

The new additions include ‘Tale of Ebi’ by Houman Fakhteh and ‘The Dreamer’ by Mehran Hemmatzadeh, bringing to four the number of Iranian films taking part in the “Short & Independent Film Section”.

Earlier reports said Ali Asgari’s ‘Witness’ and ‘Eye’ by Mahshad Vali will take part in the same section.

Iranian films ‘Suddenly a Tree’ by Safi Yazdanian, Abbas Amini’s ‘The Slaughterhouse’, and ‘Careless Crime’ by Shahram Mokri will also take part in the “Asian Film Competition” of the DIFF.

Meanwhile, the DIFF’s “Cinema of the World” section lineup includes ‘Shahre Qesseh Cinema’ (Cinema Shahr-e Qesseh) by Keyvan Ali-Mohammadi, ‘The Black Cat’ by Karim Amini, Borzou Niknejad’s ‘Amphibious’, ‘Kiarostami and His Missing Cane’ by Mahmoud-Reza Sani, and Kazem Mollaee’s ‘The Badger’, all from Iran, as well as Iranian-Japanese film ‘New Moon Hotel’ by Takefumi Tsutsui.

The festival’s “Children Film Session” will screen five films from Iran, including ‘The Blue Girl’ by Keivan Majidi, ‘That Night’s Train’ by Hamid-Reza Qotbi, Mojgan Bayat’s ‘Born of the Earth’, ‘The Ocean Behind the Window’ by Babak Nabizadeh and Teymour Qaderi’s ‘Gando’.

The festival lineup also includes Manijeh Hekmat’s ‘Bandar Band’ with a number of films made by prominent Iranian director Pouran Derakhshandeh to be reviewed at the DIFF as part of the “Retrospective” section.

The 19th DIFF will be held on January 16-24, 2021.

SQ/AG