Asphyxia’s International Screening in Cologne

The latest feature film of veteran director Ferydoun Jeirani ‘Asphyxia’ is to have its first international screening at Filmpalast Köln theater in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday.

Acclaimed actor Navid Mohammadzadeh, who plays one of the leading roles, will attend a red carpet ceremony prior to the film screening, Cinema Daily reported.

The story is about a man who takes his wife to an asylum for treatment because she is suffering from neurotic tensions.

“Jeyrani’s elegant black-and-white thriller refracts Iranian gender and politics through the prism of a twisty Hitchcockian noir,” film critic Jessica Kiang wrote in Variety.com.

“Creating Gothic texture and intricate noir plotting in the age of cell phones and intercoms is no easy task. But Jeyrani imagines a Tehran of thunderous snowstorms and power outages, where a phone’s torch app becomes as atmospheric a source of light as a guttering gas lamp, while the solo instruments of Karen Homayounfar’s moody score pick out nervous melodies over minimalist backgrounds,” she added.

Elnaz Shakerdoust, Mahaya Petrosyan, Pardis Ahmadieh, Gholamhossein Lotfi, Ehsan Amani, Asadollah Yekta and Poulad Kimiaei are also in the cast.

The movie received Crystal Simorgh awards for best special effects and best photography at the 35th Fajr Film Festival last February and was welcomed by the audience when screened last fall, earning a million dollars at the box office.