Yari festival picks Iranian 'Blockage' as best film

Iranian feature 'Blockage' has won an award at the 18th edition of the Yari Iranian Film Festival in Sweden.

Held in the Swedish cities of Uppsala and Stockholm, the event presents its best film award to the Iranian acclaimed movie.

Directed by Mohsen Qaraei, ‘Blockage’ chronicles a devastating chaos that occurs to a ferocious, contemptible man who works as a street vendor control officer.

Qasem is a temporary worker who cracks down on illegal street stalls in Tehran. His hot temper always invites trouble, and recently, he was caught getting kickbacks from stall keepers, impeding his chance to re-sign the contract.

His plan to get a truck with his wife’s share of an inheritance from her parents conflicts with her dream to move out of her parents’ house with the same money.

When Qasem argues with a stall owner, the stall owner comes to Qasem’s house deep in the night and makes suspicious demands. He even comes to Qasem’s office and threatens him with a lawsuit.

‘Blockage’ follows a few confusing days in Qasem’s life, who is good at making backdoor deals. It takes the audience’s breath away by chasing the struggles of the protagonist with the opportunity of a lifetime in his hands.

The flick has attended a number of international events so far, winning some awards, including the best film prize at New Currents section of the 22nd Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and six nominations at the 2nd Malaysia International Film Festival & Malaysia Golden Global Awards.

The festival is organized every year by Yari, an Uppsala-based charity organization that helps street children in Iran to go to school and also raises funds for the construction of schools and libraries for children.

Actor Pejman Bazeghi, who is a Yari ambassador this year, cineastes Mohsen Kiaee, Bahman Kamyar and Javad Hashemi were chosen as special guests of the festival.

Mikael Hylin from Sweden and Iranian cineast Alireza Mojallal were among the jury members this year.

The festival ran on September 22-23, 2018.

MG/FM