Shanghai filmfest to screen Iran’s ‘The Wasteland’

The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) in China has been set to host Iranian movie ‘The Wasteland’.

Directed by Ahmad Bahrami and produced by Saeed Bashiri, the 102-minute movie will compete at the International Panorama section of the 24th edition of the Chinese event.

Set in a remote brick factory that produces bricks in an ancient 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.

‘The Wasteland’ received the best film awards at the Subversive Film Festival in Croatia and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

It has also gone on screen at global events such as the Stockholm International Film Festival in Sweden and the Orizzonti Competition Section of the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, where it won the Best Film Award, FIPRESCI Award, and FAI Foundation Award.

The movie was selected among the 25 Best Asian Films of 2020 by the Asian Movie Pulse website and won Wild Dreamer Award for Best Feature Film at the 13th Subversive International Film Festival in Croatia.

Launched in 1993, the SIFF is considered by many to be the second biggest film festival in Asia.

The 2021 edition of the event is slated for June 11-20.

Read more:

Hong Kong filmfest awards Iran’s ‘The Wasteland’

Iranian movie ‘The Wasteland’ releases trailer

Asian Movie Pulse picks Iranian films

Subversive filmfest awards 'The Wasteland'

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

MG/AG