Let’s get updated with latest on Iranian cinema

Let’s get updated with the latest events in Iranian art of cinema during the past week.

Iranian superstar Shahab Hosseini won an award at the Beijing International Film Festival in China. He garnered the award for best actor at the 2021 edition of the event for his performance in ‘Any Day Now’.

The film narrates the story of a young boy of 13 years of age whose life in a village in Finland turns upside down when his parents’ application for asylum gets rejected.

Shahab Hosseini portrays the role of the father of this family who don’t sink into despair regardless of their insecure and uncertain life in a country that does not want to accept them.

Arsalan Amiri’s directorial debut ‘Zalava’ won the best film award at the Next Wave competition section of the 2021 edition of the Fantastic Fest in the US.

The film narrates an imaginary story in an imaginary land with imaginary people in the 70s. The inter-genre film narrates the tale of people’s fear of an unknown phenomenon and their efforts to bring back security to the region.

“Set in 1978, the film hones in on the inhabitants of a small village in Iran called Zalava who claim there is a demon among them. Massoud, a young police officer who investigates the claim encounters an exorcist attempting to rid the village of the demon.

When he arrests the exorcist on charges of fraud, the villagers’ revolt and anger escalates. Massoud and his lover, a government doctor, soon find themselves trapped in a cursed house, surrounded by villagers who believe they are both possessed by the demon,” comes in Deadline Hollywood website as the summery of the film.

The 2021 edition of the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia honored Iranian movie ‘Bandar Band’. Produced and directed by Manijeh Hekmat, the Georgian event presented an honorable mention to the Iranian drama.

A 2020 production from Iran and Germany, the 75-minute film is a road movie that depicts flooded landscapes of Iran. The movie is filled with music.

“After a long time, some Iranian women singers are going to enter an unofficial competition in a coffee shop in Tehran. Pregnant Mahla along with the other members of Bandar Band, her husband and one of their closest friends, starts her journey to Tehran from a southern province just when they have lost all they had in the 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,” a synopsis of the film, co-written by Hekmat and Mostafa Zandi, reads.

The Annual Iranian Film Festival – San Francisco in the US honored the winners of its 14th edition.

The award for best director was presented to Mona Zandi-Haqiqi for ‘African Violet’ and Hamid-Reza Bababeigi received the award for best screenplay for the same movie.

The award for best actress went to Fatemah Motamed-Aria for her role in ‘African Violet’ and Amir-Hossein Fathi won the award for best actor for his role in ‘Slaughterhouse’ by Abbas Amini.

Read more:

Batumi Art-House filmfest honors Iranian ‘Bandar Band’

San Francisco Iranian Film Festival announces winners

‘Zalava’ grabs award at the Fantastic Fest in US

Shahab Hosseini wins award at Beijing filmfest

MG/MG