38th FIFF reveals Eastern Vista lineup

The 38th edition of the Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) has scheduled to screen twelve films from Asian cinema at the Eastern Vista section.

The lineup includes some major titles such as ‘200 Meters’, ‘Along the Sea’, ‘Anima’, ‘In the Shadows’, and ‘The Dogs Didn’t Sleep Last Night’.

‘200 Meters’ by Palestinian director Ameen Nayfeh is about a desperate Palestinian construction worker. Upon learning his son has had an accident, the worker at wit’s end attempts to smuggle himself past the separation wall between Israel and the West Bank to see him.

‘Along the Sea’ by Japanese director Akio Fujimoto follows three Vietnamese women in their early 20s. They moved to Japan to work as technical trainees. As they decide to escape their workplace, where their passports have been confiscated, they are now illegal migrants in the country.

‘Anima’ by Chinese director Cao Jinling is set in on a cold winter day in the town of Muirdauga. During a family hunting trip, young Linzi falls into a bear cave. His older brother Tutu is forced to kill the bear, which is considered taboo in the Ionki tribe, only to spend the rest of his life as a cursed outcast.

‘In the Shadows’ by Turkish director Erdem Tepegoz is about some people who are being controlled by an omnipresent surveillance system in a dystopia of undefined place and time dominated by primitive technology. When one of them contracts a mysterious disease, he tries to contact the officials out of fear to lose his job. Doubts arise about the structure he is working in. By questioning the system, he gets to know the depths of this structure which is much darker than he thought.

‘The Dogs Didn’t Sleep Last Night’ by Afghan filmmaker Ramin Rasouli was shot in Iran. It tells the story of a remote Afghan village seized by the Taliban, and the exploits occurring after a village girl takes a US airborne soldier, who has survived a helicopter crash, into their village.

The Eastern Vista competition will also feature some movies from Iran, South Korea, Lebanon, Oman, and Kirgizia.

The lineup of Iranian movies includes ‘Magic Genie’ by Habib Ahmadzadeh, ‘Asteroid’ by Mehdi Hosseinivand, and ‘Staging’ by Alireza Samadi.

This year, the FIFF will open in Tehran on May 26 and run until June 2.

Iranian filmmaker and writer Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour, the secretary of the FIFF, said that most sections of the upcoming edition of the festival will take place online.

He added that Fajr screenings will take place at a number of outdoor movie theaters this year in an unprecedented move.

The 2020 edition of the FIFF was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since its establishment in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

The 2021 national version of the festival was held on January 31-February 10.

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MG/AG