The Iranian feature film ‘Lantouri’ directed by Reza Dormishian will compete in the 16th Istanbul Independent Film Festival, February 16-26, in Turkey.
At its 38th international presence, the movie is Iran’s only contender in the ‘Inspired’ International Competition section of the event and will compete with eight other films for the main prize, ISNA reported.
Lantouri is the name of a gang that mugs people in broad daylight on the streets of Tehran, and breaks into homes in the city’s rich northern districts. The gang also kidnaps children from families “who got rich through corruption and misuse of state funds.”
Also included in the film is the opinion of sociologists and activists about the gang’s actions.
The film has so far attended many international film festivals including 2016 Berlin, Fajr, Shanghai, Karlovy Vary, Vancouver and Stockholm and won several awards.
The cast includes Navid Mohammadzadeh, Maryam Palizban, Baran Kosari, Mehdi Kooshki, Bahram Afshari, Reza Behboudi, Behnaz Jafari, Nader Fallah, and Behrang Alavi among others.
The competition targets the most innovative and edgy creative works of the year by first or second-time filmmakers. This year it displays new methods of storytelling and filmmaking, with choices that blend fiction with documentary. It carries a $10,000 prize for the Most Inspired Director.
The festival was founded in 2002 and every February, it hosts some 80,000 film buffs and celebrated filmmakers from around the world.
The event is curated and based on thematic sections, some of which change every year to reflect issues that are gripping the world’s - and filmmakers’- imagination.
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