APSA nominates Iranian feature film ‘A Man of Integrity’

The 11th edition of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) has nominated the Iranian movie ‘A Man of Integrity’ by Mohammad Rasoulof for the Best Feature Film award.

The Iranian movie will compete with ‘Angels Wear White’ from China, ‘Foxtrot’ from Germany, France and Switzerland, ‘Sweet Country’ from Australia, as well as ‘A Gentle Creature’ from France, Germany, Lithuania and the Netherlands, APSA’s official website announced on October 13, 2017.

‘A Man of Integrity’ (AKA Lerd) is a 117-minute fiction about a man who refuses to bribe his way out of trouble caused by powerful economic and political forces.

Reza, having distanced himself from the urban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and sole son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working in his gold fish farm.

Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authorities has taken control of nearly every aspect of the regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic rents, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to dilapidate their belongings, farms and estates, to the benefit of the Company’s influential network and its monopoly.

It is under their pressure that many villagers themselves have become local rings of the larger network of corruption.

Reza Akhlaqirad, Soudabeh Beizaee, and Nasim Adabi have starred in the film that has been screened at a number of prestigious global events, including Sydney Film Festival, Midnight Sun Film Festival, New Horizons International Film Festival, the Bogota International Film Festival in Colombia, the Film Festival Gent in Belgium, the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia, and the 70th Cannes Film Festival in France where it won the Un Certain Regard award.

In 2016, ‘Starless Dreams’ by Mehrdad Oskouei won best feature documentary at the APSA, while ‘Daughter’ by Reza Mirkarimi, ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ by Majid Majidi, and ‘Breath’ by Narges Abyar were nominated in different categories.

Covering one-third of the Earth, the 70 countries and areas of the Asia Pacific stretches from Egypt in the west to the Cook Island in the east, from Russia in the north to New Zealand in the south.

They are home to 4.5 billion people and produce half the world’s film.

Established in 2007 and headquartered in Brisbane, APSA is an international cultural program driven by Brisbane City Council through Brisbane Marketing endorsed by UNESCO and FIAPF – International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

The 11th APSA will present the awards to the winners in Brisbane, Australia, on November 23.

MG/AI