Iran high-profile director heads to Turkey

Iranian director Majid Majidi is to attend the 5th Boğaziçi Film Festival in Turkey, vying in international feature film strand with his new film 'Beyond the Cloud'.

The Boğaziçi Film Festival (also known as the Bosphorus Film Festival) is scheduled to take place in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul from November 17-26.

Majidi along with other celebrities will review films submitted to the festival as well, a local media report said.

Out of 3,462 films from 120 countries submitted to the event, 107 films from 39 countries will be exhibited.

Specifically, 43 full-feature films and 64 short films will be screened in 15 different sections of the festival.

Born in 1959, internationally appreciated film producer, director and screenwriter, Majid Majidi began his career as an actor. He starred in some movies such as ‘Justification’ (1981), ‘Two Sightless Eyes’ (1983) and ‘Boycott’ (1985).

Majidi quit acting in 1989 and ventured onto directing a few short films. His first, ‘Badook’ (1991), won him a Crystal Simorgh at the Fajr International Film Festival. In 1999, ‘Children of Heaven’ (1997) was the first Iranian film nominated for the Academy Awards. It was followed by ‘The Color of Heaven’ (1999) and ‘Baran’ (2000).

Of Majidi’s international awards, Grand Prix des Amériques and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention from Montréal World Film Festival, The Best Director Award and the Best Screenplay Award from Gijón International Film Festival, Films from the South Award from Oslo Films Festival, and Douglas Sirk Award from Hamburg Film Festival for ‘Baran’ are the most notable ones.

He also directed ‘Muhammad (PBUH), The Messenger of God’ in 2015.

Set in Mumbai with Indian stars, ‘Beyond the Clouds’ shows issues happening to a teenage Indian sister and her brother.

The music for the film is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman who cooperated with Majidi in his blockbuster ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God

AI/AG