'Asphyxia' to premiere in Cologne

Filmpalast Köln Theater in Cologne, Germany, has been set to host the international premiere of 'Asphyxia', the latest feature film by Iranian director Fereydoun Jeyrani.

Acclaimed actor Navid Mohammadzadeh, who plays one of the leading roles, will attend a red carpet ceremony before the screening on Sunday.

Elnaz Shakerdoust, Mahaya Petrosian, Pardis Ahmadieh, Gholam-Hossein Lotfi, Ehsan Amani, Asadollah Yekta and Poulad Kimyaei are also in the cast.

"Masoud’s wife suffers from nervous tensions and he has to take her to the psychiatric hospital,” a brief synopsis for the film read.

In a recent website article on the Hollywood Reporter, the Iranian film ‘Asphyxia’ was compared to a Hitchcockian thriller with “all the suspense and slow-burn” of a classic film.

“Winter is coming in Iranian writer-director Fereydoun Jeyrani’s icy monochrome murder-mystery," it wrote, adding the film pits Sahra’s (played by Elnaz Shakerdoust) lowly situation against an apartment block’s imminent demolition, which will ultimately leave her homeless.

“Jeyrani’s elegant black-and-white thriller refracts Iranian society through the prism of a twisty Hitchcockian noir,” film critic, Jessica Kiang, wrote in Variety.

“Creating Gothic texture and intricate noir plotting in the age of cell phones and intercoms is no easy task. But Jeyrani imagines a Tehran of thunderous snowstorms and power outages, where a phone’s torch app becomes as atmospheric a source of light as a guttering gas lamp, while the solo instruments of Karen Homayounfar’s moody score pick out nervous melodies over minimalist backgrounds,” she added.

MG/AI