‘Leaf of Life’ Wins at Chinese Film Event

The 2017 feature film “Leaf of Life” written, directed and produced by celebrated documentarian Ebrahim Mokhtari was honored as the best film at the 1st Asian Art Week on Tourism and Film in Taizhou, a coastal city in east China’s Zhejiang Province, on July 31. The drama is about a self-discovering journey of a documentary filmmaker straddling in saffron farms in northeastern Iran to see at close range how growers toil to produce the expensive spice.  It was screened along with films and TV works from 30 countries including the US, France, Russia, India, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Japan, IRNA reported. Veteran actor Saeed Poursamimi, Mehdi Ahmadi and Maryam Moqadam are the main actors. Mokhtari’s second feature film is based on an idea originated in “Saffron,” a documentary he made 20 years ago. The documentary was shot in northeastern Iran and dealt with saffron farmers.  According to the director, in the process of shooting the documentary a story unfolded which could not be told in the documentary format therefore he used the idea for a fiction film. Iran is the world’s biggest producer of saffron exporting the high-quality spice to 45 countries. According to official data, an estimated 236 tons of saffron worth $325 million was exported from Iran in the last fiscal that ended in March.  The Chinese Art Week aims to promote tourism and cultural exchanges across Asian nations.