Palm Springs Short Fest to screen Iranian ‘Gaze’

The 25th edition of the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (PSFF) in the US has set to screen Iranian ‘Gaze’.

Directed by Farnoush Samadi, ‘Gaze’ is about a woman who witnesses something happening inside a bus while commuting back home from work. She has to decide whether to reveal it or not, according to the website of the festival.

The 15-minute fiction film grabbed the Audience Award at the 36th Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Sweden and won the Golden Pram Award at the 16th Zagreb Film Festival in Croatia.

Written by Ali Asgari, the short film has so far gone on screen at a number of globally acclaimed film festivals, including the 70th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, the 34th Tehran Short Film Festival in Iran, the 31st American Film Institute Festival in the US, and the 60th Zinebi International Festival of Documentary and Short Films in Spain.

Earlier reports said that Iranian shorts ‘Umbra’ by Saeed Jafarian and ‘Birthday Night’ by Omid Shams will also participate at the same edition of the PSFF.

The Oscar-qualifying event is “the largest short film festival and market in North America,” according to the PSFF website.

The 25th edition of the event will take place in the city of Palm Springs in California on June 18-24.

MG/AG