Dhaka Int’l Festival Will Show 30 Films From Iran

The 16th Dhaka International Film Festival, January 12-20, will be screening a large number of Iranian films.

Filmmaker Mohsen Amir-Yousefi has been selected as one of the jury members. He is in the panel that will preside over the Asian Film Competition, along with Indian filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli; American actor and producer Gary Springer; and Age Hoffart, a Norwegian distributor of feature films.

A total of 30 films from Iran will be screened at the biennial event in Bangladesh, including ‘Asphyxia’ directed by Fereydoun Jeyrani, ‘White Bridge’ by Ali Qavitan, ‘End of Dreams’ by Mohammad-Ali Talebi, ‘Searing Summer’ by Ebrahim Irajzad and ‘Takeoff’ by Ehsan Abdipour, ISNA reported.

  Women Filmmakers

There is a Women Filmmakers section in which ‘Israfil’ by Ida Panahandeh, ‘Villa Tenants’ by Monir Qeydi, ‘Untaken Path’ by Tahmineh Milani, ‘Souzangerd’ by Masoumeh Nourmohammadi and ‘Common Hole’ by Asma Ebrahimzadegan will be screened along with films from other nations.

The section will also feature two joint productions directed by Iranian filmmakers: ‘Haft Pardeh’ (7 Veils) produced by Afghanistan and France, directed by Sepideh Farsi; and ‘Maki’ a production of Japan and the US, directed by Naghmeh Shirkhan.

In ‘7 Veils,’ Farsi starts from the besieged and barricaded Kabul and travels across the war-ravaged country. Along the way she meets many people and speaks with them, always paying close attention to what they say, their acts and living conditions. Her film is a collection of environmental portraits.

Maki is a story of displacement, power and vulnerability set in the heart of New York. It is a modern love story depicting a young Japanese woman’s coming of age. When the main characters Maki (aka Eva) and Tommy come across a problem, their charismatic and persuasive boss, Mika, steps in to help. The story unsettles as it quietly plays out, revealing each character’s true motives.

Ahmadreza Mo’tamedi’s ‘Walking on String’ and ‘Subdued’ by Hamid Ne’matollah will vie for the awards in the section of ‘Cinema of the World’. ‘The Migrumpies’, a comedy directed by Iranian author and filmmaker Arman Riahi who lives in Austria, is also competing.

  Comedy on Modern Clichés

The Migrumpies is about two unemployed friends Benny and Marko, Viennese guys with so-called “immigrant background.” They are completely integrated into society and are hardly perceived as foreigners. However, they create a second identity for themselves, as petty criminals, made up of clichés and prejudices. The Migrumpies is a comedy about modern clichés and false identities.

  Cultural Bridge

‘Only Men Go to the Grave,’ a 2016 drama film by Emirati film director Abdullah Alkaabi is among the works to be screened in the Asian Competition section. The film was made in collaboration with a cast of Iraqi and Iranian Arabs.

Executive producer of the film is Farshad Mahoutforoush, an Iranian-Canadian art collector who heads a group of restaurants in Tehran. Iranian film editor and director Kambiz Safari is producer of the multinational project whose cinematographer Peyman Shadmanfar and score composer Peyman Yazdanian are also from Iran.

The story of the film begins when a blind mother dies accidentally. Her family tries to uncover her mysterious past during the traditional 3-day funeral ceremonies.