Iranian ‘Serok’ to be screened at Loudoun Arts fest

The Loudoun Arts Film Festival (LAFF) in the US has scheduled to screen Iranian short flick ‘Serok’.

Directed by Zhivar Farajzadeh, the 5-minute flick follows a day in the life of Serok, a young boy, who is forced to stand in as the shepherd for his father's flock during the summer.

“No matter where we live or what we do, financial struggles usually impact the children most - education suffers; dreams take a back seat. We hope that, at least, Serok gets the opportunity to become a policeman and drive his car. Only time will tell,” a brief plot for the film reads.

Some of the global events attended by ‘Serok’ include the CinéStudent International Film Festival in France, the Inshort Film Festival in the UK, the annual Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival in the US, the International Children’s Rights Film Festival in Turkey, and the Covellite International Film Festival in the US.

The film has also been screened at the Busan International Kids and Youth Film Festival in South Korea, the Cefalù Film Festival in Italy, the Realtime International Film Festival in Nigeria, the Golden Bull Film Festival in Turkey, the Florianópolis Children’s Film Festival in Brazil, the international film festival for children and teens MI PRIMER FESTIVAL in Peru, the Kinofilm Manchester International Short Film Festival in the UK, and the Canadian Labour International Film Festival.

‘Serok’ is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2nd Sulaimaniyah Children’s Film Festival in Iraq and was nominated for Best Documentary Short Film at the 2020 Scout Film Festival in the US.

The other Iranian titles to compete at the 2020 edition of the LAFF are ‘Exam’ by Sonia Haddad and ‘The Blue Bed’ by Alireza Kazemipour.

The mission of the LAFF is to showcase innovative and compelling movies to entertain its audiences.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s edition of the fest will be held online on the official website of the LAFF on August 27.

To observe the social distancing protocols, the event will be held in person via Drive-In on September 10-13 and 17-19 in Middleburg.

MG/AG