A flip through history with ‘Iran’s Orphanage’

iFilm weekend movie ‘Iran’s Orphanage’ is a gateway to history, narrating how the UK machinated the mass-killing of nearly half of the Iranian population during the First World War.

Directed and written by Abolghasem Talebi, the 2016 Iranian action drama film is also subtitled as ‘A Historical Account of a Genuine Holocaust in Iran’.

Iran experienced a drought from 1917 to 1919, coinciding with the start of World War I, as a result of Russian and British occupation.

The incident is deemed as an Iranian genocide that brought famine and poverty to innocent civilians.

Iranian author Mohamad Gholi Majd writes in his book ‘The Great Famine of 1917-1919’ that, “The great famine of 1917-1919 is one which the outbreak of World War I and the occupation of Iran, and most important of all, Britain’s policies during occupation resulted in an unbelievable and great calamity with the advent of World War I. Britain, Russia, and the Ottoman empire violated Iran’s neutrality and occupied Iran. After the defeat of Ottomans and the outbreak of Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and consequently withdrawal of their forces from Iran, Britain could occupy the whole Iran and a vast part of the Middle East.”

‘Iran’s Orphanage’ previously went on screen at the 2017 Ammar International Popular Film Festival and the 14th Resistance Film Festival, both held in Iran, where it received the best film award of the event.

Miguel Littín, a director from Latin America, was one of the attendees of the international Ammar film festival and expressed his opinion about the film, saying, “Although it seems difficult to represent the history, the characters and atmosphere are created in a perfect way and I saw the tone, narration and what we are supposed to see in the history. I got pleasure from the film indeed.”

In February 2016, the film also appeared at the 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival as one of the few participants in the non-competition section.

‘Iran’s Orphanage’ hit the screen in Buenos Aires in February 2017 in an event co-organized by the Ammar Popular Film Festival and the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts.

The film's cast list includes popular actors such as Aliram Nouraee, Farrokh Nemati, Jafar Dehqan, Saleh Mirza-Aqaee, Ali Shademan, Ahou Kheradmand and late Daryoush Asadzadeh.

Talebi has made another film titled ‘The Gold Leashes’ which is also considered an anti-British film. Moreover, ‘The Retuning Swallows’ and ‘Where to So Fast!’ are two of the series he directed.

iFilm English is scheduled to screen the movie at 22:00 GMT on August 20, 2022.

The movie will also be repeated the next day at 04:00, 10:00 and 16:00 (all GMT).

MM/AG