41st Fajr Int’l Film Festival unveils official lineup

The 41st edition of the Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) in Iran has announced lineup for the official competition.

The lineup, with 24 films scheduled to compete in the festival, was released on Thursday.

‘The Case Is Open’ by Kioumars Pourahmad, ‘Why Don’t You Cry?’ by Alireza Motamedi, and ‘The Stranger’ by Mohammad-Hossein Latifi are the highlights of the lineup.

‘The Case Is Open’ portrays the case of Behnoud Shojaee, who was convicted of murder when he was still a teenager and had not yet reached legal age. After four years in prison and reaching the legal age of 18 in 2008, he was executed.

‘Why Don’t You Cry?’ tells the story of a man who has lost the ability to cry and the effect it has on his life.

‘The Stranger’ portrays the IRGC commander Mohammad Boroujerdi’s struggles against separatists in the west of Iran to maintain territorial integrity in the region in the early 1980s.

The lineup also includes ‘Cinema Metropol’ by Mohammad-Ali Bashe-Ahangar, ‘Vabel’ by Touraj Aslani, ‘High Power’ by Hadi Mohammadpour, ‘Number Ten’ by Hamid Zargarnejad, ‘Master’ by Seyyed-Emad Hosseini and ‘Leather Jacket’ by Hossein Mirza-Mohammadi.

This year, the domestic and international versions of the FIFF will be once again held as part of one event titled “Fajr International Film Festival” after five editions of separate events.

The Fajr festival coincides with the Ten-Day Fajr ceremonies across Iran, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Since its establishment in 1982, the festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

The 41st edition of the FIFF, headed by Mojtaba Amini, takes place on February 1-10.

MG/AG