‘Blockage’ Competing With 9 Films in Busan

Iranian feature film ‘Blockage,’ a 2016 production by filmmaker Mohsen Qaraee, 34, is vying at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), October 12-21 in South Korea. It will compete with 9 other films at the New Currents section of the festival, according to Iran Student Correspondents Association (ISCA). The section provides a platform for promising Asian directors to showcase their works. It will be judged by a panel headed by famous US director Oliver Stone.  Qaraee’s film is about street vendors and a corrupt officer in charge of controlling them. It is about a man named Qasem working for the Tehran Municipality. His job is to prevent vendors from selling on the crowded sidewalks. However, he is to be fired because of some covert deals with selected vendors. Hamed Behdad, Baran Kosari, Mohsen Kiaee, Nader Fallah and Giti Qasemi are in the cast. The international distribution of the film is by Iranian Independents Company managed by Mohammad Atebbai. Rivals of ‘Blockage’ include South Korean films ‘After My Death’ directed by Kim Uiseok, ‘How to Breathe Underwater’ by Ko Hyunseok, ‘Last Child’ by Shin Dongseok and ‘The Last Verse’ by Tseng Ying-Ting, Indian movies ‘Ajji’ by Devashish Makhija and ‘Ashwatthama’ by Pushpendra Singh, Chinese flicks ‘End of Summer’ by Zhou Quan and ‘One Night on the Wharf’ by Han Dong and ‘Somewhere Beyond the Mist’ by King Wai Cheung from Hong Kong.