Iran’s ‘Just 6.5’ to head to MOOOV fest

Iranian movie ‘Just 6.5’ has been scheduled to vie at the MOOOV International Film Festival in Belgium.

Directed by Saeed Roustaee, the social drama deals with the issue of illegal drug trade and trafficking.

In the movie, the city is brimming with drug addicts, many of whom are homeless.

Samad, a member of Anti-Narcotics Police Task Force, is looking for a drug kingpin, Nasser Khakzad.

After several operations, Samad manages to track him down at his penthouse, where he’s committed suicide but is still alive.

Nasser goes through legal steps that lead to his death penalty and execution, but along the way, Samad comes to realize that Nasser was drawn to this path because of broken down social conditions, imposed on him.

Nasser is ultimately executed, and Samad who has been promoted to the station chief, resigns from his post.

He has come to believe all the arrests and executions in all these years, did not have any effect on society’s drug problems.

The end result of all the violence has been that the number of addicts has gone from one million to 6.5 million!

Payman Maadi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Parinaz Izadyar, Houman Kiaee, Farhad Aslani, Marjan Qamari, and Mohammad Ali Mohammadi are on the cast list of the 134-minute movie.

Premiered at the 37th Fajr Film Festival in Iran, ‘Just 6.5’ opened the 15th Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland, where it won the jury special mention.

“Samad is nobody’s fool. The narcotics officer has seen his share of a drug dealer’s lies and games, and his patience has come to run thin. While searching for the infamous drug baron Nasser Khakzad, he and his colleague Hamid scour the streets of Tehran, turning an overcrowded prison on its head ... Director Saeed Roustaee landed a huge Iranian box office hit with his second directorial work. This great action thriller is far more than just a fast-paced, skillfully staged cat-and-mouse game,” the Zurich Film Festival’s website praised the 135-minute movie.

‘Just 6.5’ also inaugurated the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan, where Roustaee received Best Director award and Mohammadzadeh won Best Actor award.

The movie was also nominated at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Australia and won the grand prix at the International Independent Film Festival of Bordeaux in France as well as the Honorable Jury Mention at the Chungju International Martial Arts & Action Film Festival in South Korea.

Moreover, the film was screened at several other global events, including the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, the Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland, the Chicago International Film Festival in the US, the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, the Chennai International Film Festival in India, the Washington DC International Film Festival in the US, the Malaysia International Film Festival, and the Sofia MENAR Film Festival in Bulgaria.

The MOOOV goes all over the world looking for films and directors that combine quality and relevant content.

The MOOOV is an initiator of all sorts of temporary and permanent activities built around the programming and screening of high-quality films from the five continents.

Its mission is to make high-quality films from all over the world available and debatable to everyone in Flanders, using a recognizable label that is accessible on different platforms and at different locations.

The 2021 edition of the MOOOV is slated for April 20-May 3.

Read more:

Film Comment Magazine chooses ‘Just 6.5’

‘Just 6.5’ among 2019 top grossing titles of Indiewire

‘Just 6.5’ director injects hope over coronavirus outbreak

‘Just 6.5’ receives award at Bordeaux filmfest

‘Just 6.5’ won honored at Chungju filmfest

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MOOOV filmfest to host Iran’s ‘That Night’s Train’

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MG/AG