Dhaka Int’l fest shortlists Iran’s ‘No Prior Appointment’

Iranian movie ‘No Prior Appointment’ has been shortlisted in the official competition section of the 21st Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF).

Directed by Behrouz Shoeibi, the Iranian film will compete at the Cinema of the World section of the 2023 edition of the festival.

Produced by Mahmoud Babaee and Farabi Cinema Foundation, the social drama focuses on introducing autism in the best way to all people in society.

‘No Prior Appointment’ narrates the story of Yasaman, a woman who was six, the same age as her son, when immigrated with her family to Berlin. Now she has to come back to Iran due to her father’s death.

Her son is suffering from autism, which makes it difficult for her to travel easily. She achieves a new understanding of humanity and death during her short travel to Iran.

Mostafa Zamani, Pegah Ahangarani, Elham Korda, and Saber Abar are on the cast list of the movie.

‘No Prior Appointment’ won the award by Astan Qods Razavi, the organizational custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), at the National Will Manifestation Awards, and was honored as the runner-up of the Qoqnus Screen Awards this year.

Selected as the movie of the year by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, the movie was also screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival in Canada, the 28th Minsk International Film Festival Listapad in Belarus, the 20th Chennai Int’l Film Festival (CIFF) in India and the Moscow International Film Festival in Russia, where it won the Golden Saint George for best film and the Silver Saint George for best actress.

Iranian feature film ‘Urgent Cut Off’ is also among Iranian competitors of the Bangladeshi screening event.

Since 1977, the DIFF has been promoting a healthy culture in the film industry in Bangladesh with the main theme of “Better Film, Better Audience, Better Society”.

Some 200 films from 60 countries compete at the DIFF in the following categories: Asian Competition Section, Retrospective, Bangladesh Panorama, Cinema of the World, Children’s Film, Short and Independent Film, Women Filmmakers Section, and Spiritual Films Section.

The festival’s website states the “DIFF is a bold expression of resistance against the decadence, vulgarity and cheap commercialism that pervades the mainstream Bangladesh film industry”.

The 2023 edition of the event will take place in the Bangladeshi capital from January 14 to 22.

MM/FM