Mokri’s ‘Invasion’ Joins Berlinale Panorama Section

The 68th Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section has completed its lineup with the addition of films including ‘Yardie’, Idris Elba’s directorial debut; ‘The Silence of Others’, a documentary produced by Pedro Almodóvar, and ‘Lemonade’ produced by Cristian Mungiu as well as the Iranian movie ‘Invasion’ by Shahram Mokri which will have its international premiere at the event. According to the festival website, Panorama will show a total of 47 films from 40 countries, with 37 world premieres and 16 directorial debuts.  As ‘Invasion’ has already been screened in Iran, it could not compete in the competition sections of the Berlinale (February 15-25) and will be shown in Panorama, a non-competitive section. Mokri’s second feature ‘Invasion’ is a crime mystery that adeptly establishes an oppressive mood with its post-apocalyptic science fiction world devoid of sunlight. Written by Mokri and Nasim Ahmadpour, the story occurs during a long eclipse of the sun when an unknown disease spreads far and wide. At a sports club, the main character Ali is accused of murdering his teammate Saman and the police is going to reconstruct the crime scene.  Detectives try to find out the reasons behind the killing. However, the job is rather complicated as the victim’s friends are uncooperative and try to hide the truth from the police. The cast includes Abed Abest, Elaheh Bakhshi, Babak Karimi, Pedram Sharifi among others. Mani Haghighi’s ‘Pig’ has been selected for Berlinale main competition section and ‘Dressage’ directed by Pooya Badkoobeh and ‘Hendi & Hormoz’ by Abbas Amini will compete in the Generation 14plus section. All three films will also have their world premieres at the world reputable film event.