Iranian movie ‘Night Shift’, directed by Niki Karimi, well-known actor and director, had its first international premier at the 31st Warsaw Film Festival.
Nearly 15 films from a total of 115, from Mexico, France, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Finland and Bulgaria are competing with the movie in the International Competition section of the event.
The film, released in November 2014, is written, directed and produced by Karimi and Ali Asghari. Based on the theme ‘Isn’t it better to know more?’, the movie unravels social problems due to the western sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program and narrates the story of Nahid who is in pursuit of her husband in Tehran “to discover his secret,” ISNA reports.
The crew started shooting the film in October 2014 and completed it in 45 days.
Karimi won the 2015 Jury Award of the Fajr Film Festival for best writer, director and producer for ‘Night Shift’, and Leila Zare’ got the diploma of honor for best actress.
Mellat Cinema in Tehran had earlier hosted prominent Iranian psychologists in a private screening of the film, “to examine the psychological points of view and the cinematic effects of the movie.” The movie will soon be screened at Azadi Cinema.
Mohammadreza Foroutan, Leila Zare’, Amirhossein Arman, Amir Aqaei, Niki Karimi, Sahar Qoreishi, Hossein Pakdel, Akbar Rahmati, Rouhollah Mehrabi, Saeideh Arab, Shayan Khalili, Yas Norouzi and Gohar Kheirandish are in the cast.
In 2009, the Warsaw Film Festival became one of the 14 events recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as international film festivals - next to Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, Tokyo, Moscow, Mar del Plata, Montreal, Shanghai, Cairo and Goa.
The WFF belongs to the global elite of competitive film festivals. It is one of 15 global film festivals with the status of ‘international competitive festival’ granted by the FIAPF based in Paris.
Versatile Actor
Karimi, 44, was born in Tehran. She became active in theater from elementary school and her early interest in films and literature inspired her to become an actress.
In 1990, she was cast as a young bride in Behrooz Afkhami’s hit film ‘The Bride’ (1990).
Karimi won many awards nationally and internationally for ‘Sara’ (directed by Darioush Mehrjouii in 1992) such as the San Sebastian film festival award for best actress. She has also been on the jury of more than 20 renowned film festivals, including the Edinburgh, Locarno and Thessaloniki international film festivals, Berlin Film Festival and also the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2001, she won her first award as a director in Iran’s Baran (Rain) Film Festival for her work ‘To Have or Not to Have’ (2000), which was produced by renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.
Her third film as director, ‘Final Whistle’ (2011), won three awards at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in Vesoul, France.
She also won the 2015 Fajr Film Festival jury award for her role in ‘Wednesday, May 9 ‘ and ‘Death of Fish.’
