10th Cinema Verite in Tehran Has Promising Documentaries

Veteran documentarian and photographer Farshad Fadaian will participate in the Non-Competition section of Cinema Verite with three new films.

The 10th Cinema Verite, Iran International Documentary Film Festival will be held from December 4-11 in Tehran.  The slogan of the upcoming edition is ‘Truth, the Best Guide’, a quote from Imam Ali (AS), according to the website of the festival (irandocfest.ir)

Fadaian, 69, who is also in the festival jury of the section on National Documentaries, will unveil his new productions ‘Jahleh’, ‘Sea at Home, Ship on the Wall’ and ‘Two Women,’ at the event.

Jahleh is an earthen jug with long or short neck. Until recently, it was used in Hormuzgan Province for keeping drinking water cool in the notoriously hot southern weather. Fadaian’s film revolves around this earthen jug.

‘Sea at Home, Ship on the Wall’ tells the story of an old seaman named Ama Ali who lives in Suro neighborhood of the port city of Bandar Abbas, capital of Hormuzgan Province. It has been a few years since he left his job; but his heart still yearns for seafaring.

And his third documentary depicts the two women who, for 15 years, have been picking and collecting fruits of wild bushes. In all seasons, from dawn to dusk, they go to the forests, hills and mountains in search of the wild berries and fruits that they can harvest and sell.

 27 Documentaries From 24 Countries

A total of 27 documentaries from 24 countries will compete in the Short, Mid-Length, and Long competition sections of the festival.

The latest documentary of acclaimed German screenwriter, film director, author and actor Werner Herzog, 74, ‘Lo and Behold: Reveries of a Connected World,’ will be screened.

Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagination he has on earthly destinations.

The film includes a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works, from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.

  Untold Story

The documentary ‘Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro’ is also among the feature films to be screened. The film is by the US-based film director, writer and producer Max Lewkowicz about an untold story from World War II.

On the eve of the invasion of Normandy in 1944, 21-year-old American soldier Tony Vaccaro felt a calling to photograph the day-to-day life of soldiers on the battlefield. He smuggles a portable camera into the battlefield and creates an intimate, comprehensive record of life on the frontlines.

“They said I was too young to do this,” Vaccaro recalls, holding his finger as if taking a photo, then turning his finger to pull a gun trigger, “but not too young to do this.”

Vaccaro captured roughly 8,000 intimate and devastating images. However, in an effort to put the war behind him, he didn’t share these photos with the world until the 1990s, at which point they were celebrated as masterpieces by war photographers around the world.

Lewkowicz traces a personal journey from an eager young soldier to a 93-year-old pacifist, and contrasts his perspective within the frame of other photo journalists and contemporary war photographers.

  No Fun

Another of the festival’s features is ‘To Make a Comedy Is No Fun’. The documentary tells the story of Czech screenwriter and film director Jiri Menzel. In 1968, Menzel won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with ‘Closely Watched Trains’, his first feature film. Only one year later his next film ‘Larks on a String’ was banned by the government. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography