The modified version of the 1987 Iranian feature film ‘Captain Khorshid’ written and directed by Nasser Taghvai will be unveiled at the 35th Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) on April 22 at Charsou Cineplex in Tehran.
Considered one of the greatest Iranian movies by critics, the film won the Bronze Leopard for Taghvai at the 48th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland in 1988, and two awards for the best lead actor and supporting actor at the 5th Fajr Film Festival in Tehran, ISNA reported.
The movie is a free adaptation of the American writer Ernest Hemingway’s 1937 novel ‘To Have and Have Not’; however, while the original story happens in Cuba, Taghvai has localized the events, and thus the setting has been moved to the south of Iran, in a village on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
The film follows Captain Khorshid as he accepts, due to the hardships of life and financial worries, to illegally take some dangerous exiled criminals out of the country on his boat.
The cast includes Dariush Arjmand, Saeed Poursamimi, Ali Nasirian, Parvaneh Masoumi, Jafar Vali and Fat’hali Oveissi among others.
Born in Abadan, southwestern Khuzestan Province, the veteran director Taghvai, 75, is a well-known filmmaker whose works have gained critical acclaim. As his father was a customs official, he traveled to the southern border regions of Iran in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province. Therefore in many of his movies, Taghvai has depicted the ethnography and atmosphere of southern Iran, where he grew up.
Taghvai is also interested in literature. So similar to ‘Captain Khorshid’, most of his other works have also been based on stories by Iranian or foreign authors.
Restored Films
One of the new sections added to this year’s FIFF is ‘Classic Restored Films’ in which modified versions of three Iranian and seven foreign classic films will be screened.
The other two Iranian productions are the documentary ‘House of God’ (1966) directed by the late actor and filmmaker Jalal Moqadam and ‘A Simple Event’ (1974) written and directed by the late auteur Sohrab Shahid-Saless.
The Iranian works have been restored through the efforts of Ladan Taheri, the manager of National Film Archives of Iran.
The foreign films, fully restored, by renowned filmmakers include ‘Pickpocket’ (1959) by French director Robert Bresson, Steamboat Bill Jr (1928) by American comedian Buster Keaton, ‘The Last Chance’ (1945) by Swiss filmmaker Leopold Lindtberg, ‘Ran’ (1985) by Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, ‘The Lonely Voice of Man’ (1987) by the Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov, ‘Daybreak’ (1939) by the French filmmaker Marcel Carne and ‘City Lights’ (1931) by the English comedian Charles Chaplin.
Last year, for the first time, two classic films of Iran cinema were modified and shown during the 34th FIFF: ‘The Lovers’ Wind’ directed and produced by the late French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse in 1970 and ‘The Cow’ (1969) by veteran Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui.
The 35th FIFF is slated for April 21-28 in Tehran at three cinemas of Charsou, Felestin and Farhang.
