The documentary film 'Pale Blue', a work by director, producer and screenwriter Arash Lahooti will open the 35th edition of Fajr Film Festival on January 29 at Tehran Milad Tower.
The plot unravels in a psychiatry hospital in Tehran, revealing the life story of four victims of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, who have spent a long time together, said the director, Mehr News Agency reported. Earlier, it won the best documentary film award in the International and Avini section and the best editor's prize at the 10th Iran International Documentary Film Festival (Cinema Verite), held in December 2016.
"The film took me eight months to get the required permits to shoot the hospital sequences. Finally, the permit was issued to let in a three-member team including a cinematographer and a sound recorder. The whole process, from data collection to the final steps of production took 20 months," he said.
Lahooti, 35, holds a degree in film studies and has several short features and three documentaries, including '2/47' (2011), 'Man Eshghbazam' (I am lover) (2011) and 'Ranandeh va Roobah', (Trucker and the Fox) (2013). Ranandeh va Roobah has been screened at many film festivals, winning Best Documentary award at the 2013 Chicago International Film Festival.
The festival's selection committee has announced 28 films that will vie for the Crystal Simorgh, and 16 movies will be screened in the non-competitive section (Perspective of Iran Cinema.) Other documentary movies lining up for the festival include 'Bazm-e Razm' (fest of war) by Seyed Vahid Hosseini, 'Napadid' (vanished) by Farahnaz Sharifi, and 'Ahestegi' (slowness) by Yaser Khayer.
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