Four Iranian movies will go on screen at the 13th Abuja International Film Festival (AIFF) in Nigeria.
'The Rainbow Island' directed by filmmaker Khosrow Sinai, 'The Promise' by Mohammad Ali Talebi, 'Until Ahmad Arrives' directed by Sadegh Daghighi and 'A Tale of Love' by Ahmad Ramazanzadeh will represent Iran at the Nigerian event, Mehr News Agency reported.
While 'The Rainbow Island' has a narrative documentary style and is about the life of an environmentalist, 'Until Ahmad Arrives' focuses on the theme of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and a love story between an Iraqi man and an Iranian woman.
'The Promise' has so far been screened in several festivals including Isfahan (Iran) and the Montreal Film Festival as well as Cinekid Festival of the Netherlands. It recounts the story of a boy coming to terms with the death of his best friend, for which he feels partly responsible.
'A Tale of Love' tells a love story in the context of war.
AIFF is the largest and longest running independent film festival in Anglophone West Africa organized at the prestigious Silverbird Cinemas Abuja, Nigeria.
It was initiated by the Nafifo Ventures Organization in 2004. The festival is affiliated to four major international festivals including Durban International Film Festival, Dahlegona International Film Festival of Georgia, Zimbabwe International Film Festival, and Commonwealth International Film Festival of Glasgow.
Short Films
Meanwhile, the Iranian film ‘Red Peace’ received the award for best directing at Cyprus International Film Festival (CYIFF) held September 14-25.
Directed by Rahim Toufan, it has attended eight film festivals across the world so far, including Marbella film festival in Spain, JiFFest in Indonesia and Sulaymaniyah Film Festival in Iraq.
It has also won the Golden Lion at Jiffest (Jakarta International Film Festival).
The short movie is a bilingual Kurdish-Turkish tale of an unfulfilled love between a Syrian refugee girl and a Turkish border patrolman. Syrian refugees welcome the tryst as an opportunity to cross the border. The girl grapples with choosing her family or the Turkish man's love when she discovers that she has been misused by his family as a means to divert the Turkish patrolman from his duties.
The film is set in mountainous and forest countryside of Ardebil Province in Iran, and filmed under extreme weather conditions.
CYIFF is an annual film festival held in Cyprus. The festival takes place in Nicosia and Pafos in cooperation with the Cultural International Festivals.
Iranian short movie 'The Silence' directed by Farnoush Samadi and Ali Asgari has also won four prizes at several international festivals.
They include Best Film Award at International Adana Film Festival in Turkey, Best Film Award at French Film Festival of Switzerland, the grand prix of Argentina's Signes de Nuit Film Festival, and Best Film Award of Italy's Riace Film Festival.
The movie had its world premiere on May 21 at Cannes Film Festival, in the official short film category. The short movie is also present in short film competition section of London festival which chooses short films for Academy Awards (Oscars) slated for February 26, 2017.
Produced by Giovanni Pompilli of the Italian production company Kino Produzioni and co-produced by Olivier Chantriaux from Filmo, the short film tells the story of young Kurdish refugee Fatma who has to announce to her mother her serious medical condition. Instead, she remains silent.
