Director: Abolfazl Jajili
(In Person)
Cast: Navid
Raisi, Jamileh Baluchi, Sakineh Azadi
Navid (Navid Raisi), who is 17, leaves his village
for a port city near the Pakistan border, seeking employment as a teacher of
Persian literature. Told he needs two letters of recommendation from local
citizens, he finds an old sheep farmer and a widow living in a hovel, Madame
Sakineh (Sakineh Azadi), to vouch for him. Then he's told to produce police
documents showing he has no criminal record. While waiting for authorization to
teach, he demonstrates his can-do spirit in a host of odd jobs, from animal
guardian to pool hall bouncer to barber. Almost everything lands him in trouble,
especially his insistent courtship of pretty Mahrokh (Jamileh Baluchi), whom he
barely knows. But Navid, part poet and part businessman, never loses hope.
Director: Iraj
Emami
Cast: Hediyah
Tehrani, Mohamed Ataei, Siamak Emami, Noormohammed Ataei
The story opens at night in Tehran. A man conceals
a large amount of money in a purpose built compartment of his bag. Walking back
to his car a thief seated on the back of a motorbike snatches his bag. Driving
into a park, the robber empties and throws the bag away without noticing the
hidden money. The owner searching desperately for his bag finally catches up
with the robber only to find out he did not discover the hidden compartment. The
search for the bag is now on.
This is a beautifully shot, thought
provoking film, one of the best recent examples of modern Iranian filmmaking.
Director: Mona Zandi
Haghighi (In
Person)
Cast: Roya Nownahali, Haniye
Tavassoli, Mehrdad Sedighiyan
Sogand and her son Omid are going through a
stressful and unpleasant time. Sogand, who for years has been carrying a secret
and a painful burden, can no longer tolerate her son's difficult behaviour.
Meanwhile, Banafshen, Sogand's younger sister who hasn't had any news of her
sister for 15 years, decides to find her. After an extensive search she finally
succeeds in locating her sister. Once the two sisters meet, Sogand's life takes
on a new meaning. After years of hardship and suffering, she finally reveals to
her sister the secret as to why she ran away from home...
Director: Jean-Daniel Lafond
(Canada)
Revealed to the world in the 2001 movie 'Kandahar',
David Theodore Belfield is wanted in the U.S. for the 1980 killing of an Iranian
diplomat, and now lives in exile in Iran. The story of an unrepentant assassin
and an articulate accuser, 'American Fugitive' explores a web of international
intrigue and state-sponsored violence.
This is the story of Hassan, a Black
American who, in 1980, in Washington, acting on a fatwa, assassinated the Shah’s
representative to the United States, Ali Akbar Tabatabai. Since then, he has
been wanted by the FBI and has lived in exile in Iran.
Director: Chapour
Haghighat
Cast: Engin
Gunay, Kuzey Ozdogan, Ulku Ulker
An aging Turkish tailor, just released from an
Iranian jail, sets off with a 12-year-old companion in search of his Anatolian
home only to find the village has vanished without a trace. The quest gives an
evocative glimpse of an age-old world filled with traditions, faith and
history.
Director: Maryam
Keshavarz
Using the weeklong Ashura festival as a framework,
THE COLOR OF LOVE documents the changing face of love and politics in the
ancient city of Shiraz, Iran. As the older generation performs cathartic
rituals, the city's youth are left to their own devices. They spend this time
cruising the public squares, hoping for a sideways glance or a brief note from a
potential lover. The film's 29-year-old, New York-based director investigates
the way these shifting mores have surfaced in a culture entrenched in
traditional values and how they have been influenced by western culture in the
form of satellite television and the Internet. By interviewing different
generations of Iranians, Keshavarz attempts to uncover how ideas of love,
romance, marriage and sex have evolved in a society where politics and culture
are inextricably linked.
Director: Marzieh
Vafamehr
Cast: Shaaf
Noori, Parisa kani, Mehdi Moghadam, Marzieh Vafamehr
One day in a life of a ten-year old girl during the
Iran/Iraq war. War propaganda nurtures her for fighting. Little by little she
gets attracted to fighting and wishes being killed in the war. This film
criticizes Iranian children environment specially educational system.
Director: Mohammad
Shirvani
Once an employee of Iran's Ministry of the
Interior, Mir Qanbar is now a 74-year-old retiree who has dedicated himself to
winning an elected position in his country's government, be it the presidency or
merely a seat in Parliament. Despite a profound lack of success (he has been
disqualified from several presidential elections for not having enough votes,
and gets infinitesimal support in parliamentary elections), Mir Qanbar and his
faithful friend Seifollah, who distributes leaflets from a mule-drawn cart and
has been promised the role of Minister for Health because he is disabled and can
feel for those like him, campaign tirelessly, traveling from village to village,
and talking with farmers, shepherds, and assorted passers-by. President Mir
Qanbar throws up simple truths – an idealism which the filmmaker seems to say is
disappearing.
Director: Erwann
Briand
Kurdistan/France
In Kurdistan, as in the majority of battle zones,
which have been ongoing for many years, women are making their presence
increasingly felt. It is almost as if, in order to stop the murderous madness of
man, they must today be in the front line, transforming themselves into human
bombs or soldiers. In 1996, the women joining up with the PKK guerrillas decide
to form their own army, completely independent of the men’s army. “The Women of
Mount Ararat” retraces the life of a women's “manga”, a base unit of the
guerrilla army, made up of six women soldiers. Constantly on the move, with no
particular aim other than climbing the next mountain, they are on the lookout
for the invisible enemy. Amidst military manoeuvres and everyday tasks, the
intimate moments of these women’s lives are gradually revealed alongside their
individual destinies. Here, where life is a question of survival, their human
qualities transcend those of the soldier’s, liberating them from their state of
male oppression in their society.
Director: Moslem
Mansouri
Cast: Ziba Shirazi
(In Person)
Baazgasht is the narrative of an expatriate's visit
to Iran, telling the story of nostalgic bitter-sweet encounters with a past that
has been virtually wiped out to the point where almost nothing she sees is
reminiscent of her time and place in pre-revolution Iran.
After living
in exile for nearly three decades the visitor, who had longed to see her
homeland all these years, finds herself in the midst of changed landmarks that
no longer represent her childhood memories. She even gets to observe first-hand
some of the heart-wrenching human realities that have befallen her beloved
homeland and laments on the conditions she sees.
Director: Moslem
Mansouri
Cast:
Ebi
This music video is a salute to the women's
movement for freedom in Iran and an objection to their present condition.
Director: Omid
Khoshnazar
Because of his villain act, a soldier is captured
in the camera cadre.
He kills a man, and the camera wants to take revenge,
but…
