‘Zalava’ to vie at Minneapolis filmfest

Iranian movie ‘Zalava’ has been scheduled to vie at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) in the US.

Directed by Arsalan Amiri, the film will be screened at the Dark Out Section of the 2022 edition of the event.

‘Zalava’ has been set to have three screening sessions on May 6, 9 and 19, competing with selected horror movies from around the world.

The movie 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.

A synopsis for ‘Zalava’ reads, “When a village claims to be cursed by a demon, a gendarmerie sergeant attempts to denounce the exorcist in charge, whom he believes is nothing but a fraud.

In 1978, in a small village called Zalava, some inhabitants claim there is a demon among them. Masoud, a young gendarmerie sergeant, goes to investigate. He encounters an exorcist attempting to rid the village of the demon. He arrests the exorcist on charges of fraud, but he finds himself stuck in a cursed house with his lover. The villagers, who believe they are both possessed by the demon, decided to burn down the house.”

Navid Pour-Faraj, Pouria Rahimi-Sam and Hoda Zeinolabedin have played the key roles.

The MSPIFF is a springtime film event, which started in 1981 as the Rivertown Film Festival.

This year’s edition of the fest, currently underway, has been slated for May 5-19.

FM/MG