Sapporo festival adds two Iranian films to playlist

The 16th Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Market in Japan has added two new Iranian films to its competition playlist.

‘Identibye’ by Sajjad Shahhatami will be competing at the experimental films section while the 16-minute ‘Faranak’ by Mehrnoush Alia will be screened at the fiction category of the Sapporo fest.

‘Identibye’ is about the life of a person who is experiencing the most critical situation in his life, and has got only one choice to make.

“A new Uber driver receives a request to deliver a golden retriever named Faranak. Knowing too well that having a dog in the car is against the Iranian law, he is reluctant to accept the ride, but is obliged after learning that the dog belongs to a blind man,” reads as a synopsis to ‘Faranak’.

‘Faranak’ has already participated in the Berlin International Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival as well as the Austin International Film Festival.

‘Three Meters and a Few Centimeters’ written and directed by Mostafa Salehinejad, ‘I Won’t Remain Alone’ by Yasser Talebi, Omid Abdollahi’s ‘Nightly Whispers’ and Seyyed-Payam Hosseini’s ‘The Kites’ are other films representing Iran at the Sapporo Int’l festival.

The Japanese festival is endorsed by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and has selected 113 films from 36 countries from around 3,000 applicants for its various categories.

The 16th Sapporo festival, one of Japan and Asia’s largest and most respected events, is due for October 13-November 30 in Hokkaido.

Also read:

Iran’s ‘I Won’t Remain Alone’ to head to Sapporo filmfest

Sapporo festival to screen ‘Nightly Whispers’

Iran’s ‘The Kites’ to fly over Sapporo filmfest

‘Three Meters and a Few Centimeters’ to attend Sapporo filmfest

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