Six Films for Swedish Festival

Six Iranian cinematic productions will participate in the 41st Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden, January 26-February 5.

‘Israfil’ by Ida Panahandeh will be vying with 19 other feature films for the Golden Dragon Award in the International Competition section, ISNA reported.

In Panahandeh’s work, a woman named Mahi is mourning the tragic death of her son in a car crash, when Behrooz, the man she has always loved, re-enters her life. But Behrooz now intends to marry someone much younger, and for the grieving Mahi, unhealed emotional wounds reopen after 20 years.

In the Master section, the event will commend the late Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) by screening his last work ‘24 Frames’.

Premiered in 2017 Cannes Film Festival in France, the film comprises 23 vignettes from Kiarostami’s collection  taken over 40 years, and one painting by Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel, all of which are expanded into a flowing live-action tableau, or (as the movie calls it) a ‘frame’.

  Positive Reviews at Cannes

In Cannes, critics of magazines and websites wrote positive reviews about the film, praising the director’s wry humor and extraordinary foresight.

The animation ‘Maned and Macho’ by Shiva Sadeq-Asadi will compete in the Animation section, while the documentary ‘Invincible Diplomacy of Mr. Naderi’ co-directed by Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moqaddam is in the Five Continents section.

Maned and Macho shows a young girl who is hiding her feelings and thoughts in a secret fantasy world filled with symbolic animal figures.

Invincible Diplomacy of Mr. Naderi’ narrates the story of an eccentric entrepreneur who weaves a large double-sided Persian carpet to bring about peace in the world but is alarmed by unexpected obstacles.

‘Ava’ made by Sadaf Foroughi is present in the Ingmar Bergman section, named after the Swedish director, writer and producer (1918-2007). The drama is about a girl named Ava, a rebellious violinist, who tries to break away from the hassles of family, school and society.

The 6-minute puppet film ‘To Be’ by Farzaneh Omidvarnia in the Shorts section is a co-production of Iran and Denmark. It brilliantly depicts a part of human society seeking a place to establish a living.

Established in 1979, Göteborg Film Festival is the largest film event in Scandinavia, and usually screens 450 plus films from 60 countries.