A peek into Fajr Int’l fest contestant ‘The Winter Within’

The competition section of the 41st Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) was opened on February 1, 2023 with India-France-Qatar co-production ‘The Winter Within’.

Directed by Aamir Bashir, ‘The Winter Within’ is coproduced by India, France and Qatar.

This film is about a couple who is torn apart by the violent military conflicts in the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.

“In the city of Srinagar, Nargis searches for her missing husband, Manzoor, until she is forced to hopelessly return to her village home.

With a little help from a local man Yaseen, she silently toils away on an exquisite weave. But the quiet of the Kashmiri winter is like the silence of the graveyard, waiting to be shredded by what lies buried within,” comes in media as a synopsis to the film.

The Fajr organizers have said that the screening schedule for the international competition will be announced daily and three films will be shown every day.

They have refused to unveil the total schedule for the international competition to deflect global media pressure on the entries to withdraw from the event.

The first day of the Fajr International Film Festival also hosted the screening of Mongolian director Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam’s movie ‘Harvest Moon’ and Syrian filmmaker Basil Al-Khatib’s ‘Al-Hakim’.

 The Fajr festival coincides with the Ten-Day Fajr ceremonies across Iran, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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

The event has screened many preserved classics from Iran cinema in previous runs of the international film event annually held in Iran.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran and across the world every year.

The 41st edition of the FIFF will run through February 10, 2023.

MM/FM