‘Castle of Dreams’ to open Iranian Film Festival Australia

The 9th edition of the Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA) has scheduled to go through ‘Castle of Dreams’.

Directed and produced by Reza Mirkarimi, ‘Castle of Dreams’ will open the 9th IFFA in Brisbane in October 2019.

The film tells the story of a 42-year-old father of two. He unintentionally kills a relative. A court of law rules the murder was accidental.

Getting out of prison, he leaves his wife and kids and moves to another city. After a while the father must go back to his home town as his wife is brain-dead.

He has to take his son and daughter away from their mother who is hospitalized. Although reluctant, he tries every means to fulfill the children’s fantasy of building a dream castle that was drawn by their mother.

Starring role of the film has been portrayed by Hamed Behdad who won the Best Actor award from the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival in China.

Currently vying at the 4th Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq, the 86-minute film brought Mirkarimi the Best Director award and the highest prize at the Shanghai event.

‘Castle of Dreams’ also received the awards for best film and best director at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia as well as the Simorgh Crystal awards for Best Screenplay and Best Music at the 2019 Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

ifilm has interviewed the actor Behdad, the actresses Zhila Shahi, Youna Tadayyon and Niousha Alipour, as well as the director of ‘Castle of Dreams’. Click here to watch the report.

Commenced in 2011, the IFFA is the only nation-wide Australian Festival dedicated to Iranian Cinema. Its aim is to showcase a diverse range of the best and most interesting of current Iranian cinema, one of the world’s most exhilarating national cinemas, and through cinema to introduce Iranian culture to Australians.

The 9th IFFA is slated for October 24-30 in Brisbane and then will move to Sydney for October 31-November 6.

Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide will be the next destinations of this year’s IFFA which will come to an end in Perth on November 20.

Read more:

ifilm exclusive report on Iranian feature ‘Castle of Dreams’

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‘Castle of Dreams’ releases behind-the-scenes

MG/MG