Italy to host Iranian ‘Driving Lessons’

Iranian short ‘Driving Lessons’, directed by Marzieh Riahi, has made it to the 22nd Religion Today Film Festival in Italy.

“Bahareh must have her traditional chauvinistic husband accompany her during driving lessons so that she and her instructor are not left together without a third party’s presence,” a synopsis for the film reads.

The film is starring Linda Kiani, Alireza Sanifar, Salar Khamseh, and Sanaz Mesbah.

‘Driving Lessons’ grabbed several prizes, including the Best Short Drama Award at the 2019 “I Will Tell” (IWT) international film festival in the UK and the Best Short Film Award at the 2019 Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia.

The short film also attended several global events, including the Tampere Film Festival in Finland, the Cartagena Film Festival in Colombia, the Tribeca Film Festival in the US, and the Edmonton International Film Festival in Canada.

Founded in 1997, the Religion Today Film Festival was “the first event of its kind dedicated to dialogue between cinema and religions”, according the gala’s website.

The 22nd Religion Today Film Festival will take place on October 2-10, 2019.

SQ/MG