Hot Docs to display Iran’s documentary ‘Beloved’

Iranian documentary ‘Beloved’ has been set to attend the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

‘Beloved’ will take part in the World Showcase section of Hot Docs, set to kick off in April.

Directed by Yasser Talebi, the 63-minute documentary is about the difficult but favorable life of an 83-year-old mother named Firouzeh who runs a unique life in the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran.

Firouzeh hikes across the rugged landscape carrying bundles of wood. When she was a young girl, a marriage was arranged for her with an older man, with whom she had 11 children. Now, none of her children come to visit her and her attempts to get closer to them remain futile.

The film attended the 2018 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the 16th Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in the US, the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, as well as the 37th Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

It will also vie at the upcoming edition of the International Istanbul Film Festival in Turkey next month.

‘Beloved’ brings to two the number of the Iranian documentaries that would take part in the Canadian event.

Earlier reports said that ‘Exodus’, made by Bahman Kiarostami, would take part at the International Spectrum section of the Hot Docs.

The Hot Docs is “North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market”, according to the festival’s website.

Each year, the gala presents a selection of about 200 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the world.

The festival aims to advance and celebrate the art of documentary, and to showcase the work of and create production opportunities for documentary filmmakers.

The 26th edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival will take place in Toronto on April 25-May 5, 2019.

SQ/MG