‘Bandar Band’ to be screened at Hainan Island filmfest

Iranian feature film ‘Bandar Band’ by Iranian female filmmaker Manijeh Hekmat is to go on screen at the 3rd Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) in China.

The movie will be going on screen in Asian Spectrum, a non-competitive section that aims to construct a new landscape for Asian cinema. The event will take place in the Chinese city of Sanya from December 5 to 12.

‘Bandar Band’ is about pregnant Mahla along with the other members of a music band named Bandar Band, her husband and one of their closest friends. They start their journey to Tehran from a southern province just when they have lost all they had in a flood.

They still keep their hopes alive, however, every road they take leads to a dead-end in a flood-stricken land. They intend to go to Tehran, but they wonder if it is just another turn around a vicious circle.

‘Sun Children’ by Majid Majidi will be also screened at the same section of the HIIFF. Majidi is scheduled to attend the festival to promote his movie.

‘Bandar Band’ is currently in the running at the 30th Films from the South Festival in Norway.

It also went on screen at the 43rd Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) in the US, the 8th Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey, the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival and the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Canada.

The Hainan Asian Spectrum also features ‘Ainu Mosir’ by Takeshi Fukunaga from Japan, ‘Bittersweet’ by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan from India, ‘In Between Dying’ by Hilal Baydarov from Azerbaijan and ‘Death of Nintendo’ by Raya Martin, a co-production of the Philippines and U.S.

The Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) is one of the most romantic and diversified Island Film Festival in China.

MM/FM