Slemani fest to screen 5 Iranian features

The 5th edition of Slemani International Film Festival (SIFF) in Iraq is set to screen five feature films from Iran, including ‘Hero’ by internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.

‘A Hero’, ‘Fathers’, ‘3Puffs’ (aka Puff, Puff, Pass), ‘Botox’ and ‘Drown’ have been selected to take part in the SIFF’s Feature Film competition.

‘A Hero’ is about Rahim, a divorced man who has been imprisoned due to unpaid debt. During a two-day leave, Rahim tries to prove that he is a good person.

The film was awarded the Grand Prix at the 74th Cannes Film Festival in France. It will also take part in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards.   

Meanwhile, Salem Salavati’s ‘Fathers’ is about a generation gap.

“Mani and Sina 19-year-olds have been friends for a long time. Sina has low self-esteem and is mentally dependent on Mani. In a car accident, Mani is killed and Sina is severely injured. At first, everyone thinks that Mani was behind the wheel because Sina is not certified. This incident provides the ground for the fathers of these two young men to take a step towards proving their claim, knowing more about their children and realizing their own negligence,” a synopsis for the film reads.

This is while ‘3Puffs’ by Saman Salour is about Mojtaba and Nasim, a young couple who just had a baby.

According to a synopsis for the film, they reside in the southern part of Tehran, “yet they are relatively happy. Mojtaba sells disposable plastic dishes and Nasim makes dolls at home. After Mojtaba’s accident, strange events occurred in their life and Nasim realized that her husband was a drug trafficker. Nasim did all to save her family and turned into a trafficker in no time.”

In the meantime, Kaveh Mazaheri’s ‘Botox’ tells the story of Akram and Azar, two sisters who lie about the disappearance of their brother.

They tell everyone that he has fled to Germany.

“As time goes by, however, the “lie” turns into “reality” in Akram’s mind, so that she believes her brother will come back,” a synopsis for ‘Botox’ reads.

The other Iranian movie competing in SIFF is ‘Drown’ (aka ‘Butterfly Stroke’) by Mohammad Kart.

“A film of a woman swimming in a pool is distributed through the internet. Now her husband and her brother are after finding the one who is responsible for that and taking revenge on him,” a synopsis for the film reads.

Several Iranian short films will also be screened at this year’s edition of Slemani International Film Festival.

The 5th edition of SIFF will take place on December 17-23.

SQ/AG