Iran shorts to adorn BFI festival screen

The 61st edition of the BFI London Film Festival has scheduled to screen two short films by Iranian filmmakers.

The festival’s Heading for that Adult Crash section will screen ‘Lunch Time’ directed by Alireza Qasemi while Kaveh Mazaheri’s ‘Retouch’ will go on screen in the Like a Heartbeat Drives You Mad section.

The 15-minute ‘Lunch Time’ is about a high school girl who has come to the hospital to identify the body of her mother. The people in charge at the hospital would not let her into the morgue because of her young age.

The short has been nominated for a Palme d’Or at 70th Cannes.

Among the cast members of ‘Lunch Time’ are Khorshid Cheraqipour, Roya Bakhtiari, Amir Taqdiri, Peyman Naemi, Siavash Cheraqipour, Bahram Omrani, Pouria Akhavan, Mohammad Haddadi, Alireza Qasemi, Mehdi Yeganeh, and Arash Qasemi.

Meanwhile, the other Iranian contender ‘Retouch’ is about a young woman whose husband dies before her eyes and she just observes the tragic scene.

It has previously won Best Short Film Awards at the Krakow International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival, all in the US.

Launched in 1953, the BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the UK.

Slated for October 4-15, the 61st edition of the BFI will present more than 240 movies across the world.

MG/AG