Iran ‘Beloved’ strikes Hot Docs audiences

Iranian documentary ‘Beloved’ has impressed the audiences at the 26th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

The Iranian film took the first place among the top five mid-length films selected by the Canadian audience in Toronto, the organizers recently announced.

Directed by Yasser Talebi, ‘Beloved’ 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 north 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 63-minute documentary attended many global event, including 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, the 37th Fajr Film Festival in Iran, the 38th International Istanbul Film Festival in Turkey, and the 67th Trento International Film Festival in Italy where it won the jury special mention and a UNESCO honorable mention.

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 took place in Toronto on April 25-May 5, 2019.

 MG/AG