Fajr Film Festival reveals short film lineup

The 36th edition of the Fajr Film Festival has revealed short film lineup in the competition section.

‘Marlon’ by Farnaz Hajiha, ‘Animal’ co-directed by Bahram and Bahman Ark (Haj-Eyvanlou), ‘Lunch Time’ by Alireza Qasemi and ‘Disclosure’ by Ehsan Mokhtari will be screened at the festival, the organizers announced on Wednesday.

Among them, ‘Animal’ and ‘Lunch Time’ are two of the most successful Iranian short films in the global scene.

The 15-minute film by the Ark brothers is about a man who wants to pass the border unlawfully; so he hunts a ram and decides to escape disguised as the animal.

‘Animal’ won the second prize in the Cinéfondation category at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival and the best short film award at the 21st Avanca Film Festival in Portugal.

It was picked as the best film at the 34th Tehran International Short Film Festival, best short at the 19th Iran Cinema Celebration, and recently won the best short film award at 18th Izmir Short film festival in Turkey.

The short film has so far gone on screen at a number of international film events, including the 37th Cambridge Film Festival in the UK, the 18th San Diego Asian Film Festival in the US, the 40th Poitiers Film Festival in France, the 46th du nouveau cinéma Film Festival in Canada, and the 40th Denver Film Festival in the US.

The 15-minute ‘Lunch Time’ is about a high school girl who has come to the hospital to identify the body of her mother. The people in charge at the hospital would not let her into the morgue because of her young age.

It has gone on screen at a number of international film festivals, including the 15th London Short Film Festival (LSFF) in the UK, the 26th Saint Louis International Film Festival in the US, the 23rd James River Short Film Festival in the US, the 6th annual Jozi Film Festival in South Africa, the 18th Calgary International Film Festival in Canada, the Palm Springs International ShortFest in the US, the Mill Valley Film Festival in the US, and the 61st BFI London Film Festival in the UK.

The short has been nominated for a Palme d’Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in France and received several awards from the Student International Film Festival in Croatia, the Ojai Film Festival in the US, the 2017 James River Short Films competition in the US, the Calgary International Film Festival in Canada, the 5th Porto Alegre Screenwriting Festival – FRAPA in Brazil, the 6th Pachuca Film Festival in Mexico, the 2017 Snakes Alley Festival of Film in the US, and the 4th Flamingo Film Festival in the US.

The jury will select the best short film – shorter than or about 15 minutes – after two years that short film section was out of the Fajr Film Festival.

Since its establishment, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran and across the world every year.

The 36th edition of the Fajr Film Festival is slated for February 1-11, 2018, in Tehran.

MG/MG