The 6th Persian International Film Festival, to be held in Sydney in September, will screen 8 feature and 8 short films by Iranian directors or about Iran and will also pay tribute to two acclaimed filmmakers Amir Naderi and the late auteur Abbas Kiarostami.
The Iranian films in competition include ‘Breath’ directed by Narges Abyar, ‘Parting’ by Navid Mahmoudi, ‘Bridges of Sleep’ by Oktay Baraheni, ‘Being Born’ by Mohsen Abdolvahab and ‘Under the Smokey Roof’ by Pouran Derakhshandeh, Mehr News Agency reported.
Except for ‘Parting’, the other five films have been screened at the Fajr Film Festival and some have won awards too. ‘Parting’ has not yet been shown in Iran but has won awards at Busan and Tripoli Film Festivals.
‘They’ is directed by Iranian-born US-based filmmaker Anahita Ghazvinizadeh. It is a joint production of the US and Qatar which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
‘Window Horses’ is the opening film of the festival. It is a feature-length animation made by Japanese-Canadian independent filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming which deals with Persian poetry. A Canadian production, the animated film benefits from the celebrated Iranian actor Payman Moaadi as a voice-over artist.
Tribute to Amir Naderi
In the Special Tribute section, the festival will host a program in honor of the acclaimed filmmaker Amir Naderi and will screen his latest production ‘Monté’ (2016, made in Italy) as well as one of his most famous films ‘The Runner’ (1984, Iran).
Naderi, 70, is a film director, screenwriter and one of the influential figures of 20th-century Persian cinema.
He began his career with still photography for Iranian features. In 1971, his directorial debut ‘Goodbye Friend’ was released in Iran. Naderi was known internationally with ‘The Runner’ and ‘Water, Wind, Dust’ (1989).
Impact of Iran Cinema
‘Mirrors of Iran’ is the name of a program held on October 8, a full day of discussion and research on Iran Cinema.
The conference features cross-disciplinary discourse on the impact and presence of Iranian cinema across the globe and includes a screening of the documentary ‘76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Abbas Kiarostami’ (2016) by Seifollah Samadian and Kiarostami’s latest short film ‘Take Me Home’ (2016).
Associate Professor Negar Mottahedeh from Duke University in the US will be present alongside Australian experts in contemporary Iranian cinema including Amin Palangi from Western Sydney University, Michelle Langford from the University of New South Wales, Rosa Holman from Deakin University and Gay Breyley from Monash University.
Golden Gazelle Award
Founded in 2011, the festival shows films made by Persian-speaking filmmakers of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The festival jury will present the Golden Gazelle Award for Best Feature, Best Documentary and Best Short films.
The Golden Gazelle Award is inspired by an ancient Persian winged-gazelle, going back to the Achaemenid Empire around 4th century BC, signifying vitality and intuition in artistic practice.
Besides screenings, the festival also holds master classes and other cultural events. The 6th edition is slated for September 7-10.
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