Jordan Karama Human Rights fest screening Iran shorts

The 9th edition of the Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Jordan has been screening four short titles from Iran.

The Iranian lineup includes ‘The Fog’ co-directed by Ali Shourvarzi and Hossein Mahrouqi, ‘Return’ by Shahriar Pourseyyedian, ‘Ballsy: Story of A Revolution’ by Seyyed-Mohsen Pourmohseni-Shakib and ‘Power to the People’ by Andia Afsar-Keshmiri.

A product of Iranian Youth Cinema Society, ‘Return’ is about a man named Rahim who has been in prison for 23 years. Now, he comes back to his hometown to visit his brother. The trip back home brings to light some unspeakable secret.

On its first international presence, the 22-minute film attended the 21st Religion Today Film Festival in Italy where it received the special mention in the New Outlooks section.

It also won a nomination for best film award at the 19th Izmir International Short Film Festival as well as a nom for best sound editing at the 3rd International Short Film Festival Pune in India.

‘The Fog’ is a 23-minute fiction about a woman who washes dead bodies for living. Tormented and haunted after the death of her own child, she has since refused to wash bodies of dead children. Years later, she finds herself in a desperate state when confronted to wash a dead infant’s body before burial.

‘Ballsy: Story of A Revolution’ is a 6-minute animation narrating the story of two chickens living in a cage and being fed by a hand. Due to the lack of food, the chickens strike against the hand and achieve their own freedom, but they can't go out of the cage, whereas there is no hand to feed them.

‘Power to the People’ is a 5-minute animation about a king who gives his crown to a person and recognizes him as the new king. After the coronation, the king also gives the man a violin, smiling deceitfully. Alone, the man stares at the violin as well as the arch, and then starts playing the violin, creating an annoying noise. He throws the violin away. Then he discovers moving the arch on his body creates beautiful music, so he puts the arch on his arm and plays. The more he plays the more his arm disappears.

The Karama Human Rights Film Festival contributes to spreading a Human Rights Cinema that denounces racism, hatred discourse, discrimination and injustice.

“You’re Are Not Alone” is the motto of this year’s festival, which aims to contribute to the understanding of the general situation of women around the world and in the Arab world in particular, the organizers have announced.

The festival screens a selection of films from around the world, and holds open discussions to shed light on human rights violations worldwide and the prospects of social change and progress.

The event has been slated for December 5-10, 2018 in Amman, Jordan.

MG/MG