Asian Movie Pulse picks Iran’s ‘Wasteland’, ‘Slaughterhouse’

The Asian Movie Pulse website has announced the 25 Best Asian Films of 2020, with Iranian movies ‘The Wasteland’ and ‘The Slaughterhouse’ among the selected titles.

Contributors of Asian Movie Pulse from America, Europe and Asia have voted for the 25 Best Films of 2020, resulting in a great selection of films from Malaysia, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Singapore, China, and Taiwan.

Directed by Abbas Amini and produced by Javad Norouzbeigi, ‘The Slaughterhouse’ is a narrative of some contemporary social issues.

In the movie, Amir is an idle and unemployed ex-convict who becomes involved in the cover-up of a terrible crime at the local abattoir.

His involvement comes at his father’s request, but what begins as a favor for his family spins out of control.

In a tradition of social critique, Amini takes aim at the ruthless economic and societal forces.

“It’s been a few months that Amir has been deported from France. For the sake of his father, Amir is engaged in a shocking crime,” a synopsis for the movie reads.

The script for the 125-minute film has been co-written by Amini and Hossein Farrokhzadeh.

Hassan Pour-Shirazi, Baran Kosari, Mani Haqiqi, and Amir-Hossein Fathi are notable on the cast list of the movie.

‘The Slaughterhouse’ went on screen at a number of national and global events, including the Fajr Film Festival in Iran, the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in Germany, the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival in China, and the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, where it won the Kim Jiseok award.

Directed by Ahmad Bahrami, ‘The Wasteland’ is set in a remote brick manufacturing factory that produces bricks in an trandatonal way.

Many families with different ethnicities work in the factory and the boss seems to hold the key to solving their problems.

Forty-year-old Lotfollah, who has been born on-site, is the factory supervisor and acts as a go-between for the workers and the boss.

The boss asks Lotfollah to gather all the workers in front of his office to talk with them about the shutdown of the factory.

Now, the only issue that has occupied Lotfollah’s mind is to keep Sarvar, the woman he has been in love with for a long time, unharmed.

The cast list of the film includes Ali Baqeri, Farrokh Nemati, Mehdi Nassaj, Majid Farhang, and Mahdieh Nassaj.

Being among the Iranian representatives at the 78th Golden Globe Awards in February, ‘The Wasteland’ recently received the best film award at the Subversive Film Festival in Croatia.

It has also gone on screen at global events such as the Stockholm International Film Festival in Sweden and the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, where it won the FIPRESCI award.

The Asian Movie Pulse deals with all aspects of Asian cinema, from its lowest depths (student, amateur films) to its highest peaks. At the same time, it promotes the work of the entire continent.

Read more:

‘The Wasteland’ to join Iranian works at Golden Globe Awards

Subversive filmfest awards 'The Wasteland'

Iran’s ‘The Slaughterhouse’ to vie at Dhaka filmfest

‘The Slaughterhouse’ publishes trailer

MG/AG