Iranian cinema Archives - Iran News Daily

Two Iranian Films to Compete in Chicago Film Festival

reporter 1222 — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 06:31:19 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Two Iranian films will compete with several international films at the 56th edition of the Chicago International Film Festival, which is slated for October 14-25.

Iran’s feature film, ‘Careless Crime,’ directed by Shahram Mokri, will go on screen at the International Feature Competition section and will go into competition with films from Germany, Greece, Russia, the US, Mexico, Italy, Poland, and Japan, IRNA wrote.

Mokri’s film, which had its first international screening at the Venice festival, won an award for Best Original Screenplay in the International Film Critics’ Week (SIC) during the 77th Venice International Film Festival.

‘Spotted Yellow,’ by Baran Sarmad, will also be at the Short Competition section of the Chicago festival.

Sarmad’s short film tells the story of Roya, a young girl with a yellow spot on her face. One day she feels the signs of a real giraffe in her life. And her normal life is slowly changing.

The 56th edition of the festival follows a pandemic hybrid model of mostly digital offerings, along with eight films presented at the popular ChiTown Movies drive-in. Since the summer this modest 2020 Chicago phenomenon has become the city’s preferred drive-in location, located in Pilsen, just off South Throop Street behind the big brick ChiTown Futbol facility, according to chicagotribune.com.

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‘Castle of Dreams’ from Iran Receives Nominated in Spanish Festival

reporter 1222 — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 04:07:47 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Internationally acclaimed feature ‘Castle of Dreams’ received three nominations at the 2020 Imagineindia International Film Festival in Spain.

The Spanish capital of Madrid will host the event from September 24 to October 8.

The film is nominated for Best Actor (Hamed Behdad), Best Screenplay (Mohsen Qaraei and Mohammad Davoudi) and Best Soundtrack (Amin Honarmand).

A short synopsis for the film reads: “Jalal Moradi, a 42-year-old father of two, kills a family in an accident. In the court of law, the murder is recognized as accidental killing without intent. After getting out of prison, he leaves his wife and kids and moves to another city. Two years later, he must go back to his hometown as his wife is brain-dead.”

Hamed Behdad, Mohammad Asgari, Zhila Shahi, Akbar Ayeen, Azadeh Nobahar, Mohammad Ashkanfar, Youna Tadayyon, and Niyousha Alipour make the cast of the flick.

The film received the Best Director award, while its lead actor, Hamed Behdad, shared the Best Actor award of the International Feature Film Competition section of the 56th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey.

‘Castle of Dreams’ has already won the Best Actor Award, Best Director Award, and the Golden Goblet at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

The film has also won two awards at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia, Best Film in the West and East Eurasian Film Festival (Orenburg, Russia) and Best Director award at the fourth Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq.

Iranian actress Mahtab Keramati is selected to serve as the jury president of the 2020 Spanish festival along with Iranian filmmaker Mehdi Rahmani, who is named as juror of the event.

The panel of jury of the Spanish festival also includes Indian film expert Modhura Palit, Polish filmmaker Hanna Polak and Afghan actress Leena Alam, Australian producer Bridget Ikin, Indian professor Anjali Monteiro, Kazakh filmmaker Olga Korotko, British-Indian writer and director Sandhya Suri, Kazakh producer Olga Khlasheva, and German producer Daniela Creutz.

As put by the event’s official website, the Imagineindia festival is an attempt to “promote friendship between Indian Subcontinent, rest of Asia and Spain and along with it the European Union.”

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‘The Cycling Wind’ Represents Iran in Glasgow Film Festival

reporter 1222 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 05:24:41 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian short animated film, ‘The Cycling Wind,’ directed by Nazanin Sobhan-Sarbandi, is taking part in the Glasgow Film Festival 2020 in Scotland.

The film will be showcased at the ‘Family Shorts,’ one of the festival’s screening categories.

The six-minute animation is about a young wind that comes into possession of a bike, which helps the wind blow even faster without expending much energy and to truly enjoy its time. The freedom and strength that the bike gives the wind allow it to embark on new adventures.

The Scottish festival kicked off on August 17 in Glasgow and will run through August 23, ifilm wrote.

‘The Cycling Wind’ had previously taken part in the ninth edition of Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Kids in the US, the 23rd Animac, the International Animation Film Festival of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain, the ninth Annual Bike Short Film Festival in the US, and 34th Clermont-Ferrand film market in France and the 29th International Animated Film Festival Les Nuits Magiques in France.

Glasgow is one of the friendliest film festivals on the planet with a wide-ranging program that celebrates every corner of world cinema and provides a fantastic showcase for the best of Scottish film. It is one of the leading film festivals in the UK and run by Glasgow Film, a charity which also runs Glasgow Film Theatre. The festival is made possible by support from Screen Scotland, the BFI (award funds from the National Lottery), Glasgow Life, and EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.

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Pakistani cinema welcomes co-production with Iran: official

reporter 1222 — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 12:30:07 +0000

Narita Farhan, deputy director of Pakistan’s Electronic Media & Publications, was the presenter of the International Co-production panel at the third day of the 32nd International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Isfahan.

During the panel, the official said that the Pakistani government welcomes cooperation with any party who is interested in co-production of films.

The government, she said, gives quite a lot of incentives to local filmmakers, and any foreign producer who reaches an agreement with a Pakistani partner on filmmaking will also be considered as qualified to receive all the incentives.

She called on all filmmakers from around the world, particularly from Iran, for co-productions.

“In terms of security issues, the Pakistani government has strived hard to protect the civilians against threats, and now the country is safe and there is no daily report of insecurity,” she said.

Only in 6-10 percent of the country’s area, Farhan noted, people need special permission from the Pakistani government to go.

If anybody wishes to come to Pakistan for filmmaking, the government is willing to provide all kinds of facilities, including those related to the security issues, she said, adding that 70 percent of the content of the film that is planned to be made with Pakistani partners has to be related to the country.

She noted that the film should portray Pakistan in a positive light.

The official said that for any such cooperation, the government of Iran should sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Pakistan. Then the two sides have 45 days to review the project and propose any modification to it. After the period, the process can be launched, according to the official.

She also conveyed the eagerness of the Pakistani filmmakers on cooperation with their Iranian counterparts.

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Russian director calls for expansion of Iran-Russia cinematic ties

reporter 1222 — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 07:11:36 +0000

Addressing Iran-Russia production panel on the sidelines of the 32nd International Film Festival for Children and Youth, he said Russian enjoys great experiences in filmmaking arenas.

He added the “Silent Scream” looks at education as an educational tool, adding that children’s films are sent to schools, and teachers present them as a classroom curriculum in Russia.

He also stressed the need for boosting mutual cinematic ties in online and platform cinema.

Pointing to the Russia’s capability in producing animations, he called for expanding ties with Iran in this aria.

“In collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Education, we are releasing films for children and adolescents in schools so that those who are not able to go to the cinema can watch the film at school,” he added.

“Culture must be shared between children. The children and adolescent actors who came with us to Iran have been influenced by Iranian and Isfahan culture and their outlook has changed,” he added.

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Veteran actor Dariush Asadzadeh passes away

reporter 1222 — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 11:30:42 +0000

Asadzadeh was born on 23 November 1923 in Kermanshah in western Iran. He began his acting career at 20, and spent the next many years as an actor, writer and director at Tehran theater.

He played in over 50 movies during the 60’s and 70’s era. He is better known for his roles in TV series, including “The Green House” co-directed by Bijan Birang and Masud Rassam and “Samandun” by Nasser Hashemi.

His roles were also notable in movies such as “The Spouse” by Mehdi Fakhimzadeh, “The Orphanage of Iran” by Abolghasem Talebi, and “Two Halves of An Apple” by Kianoush Ayyari.

In “The Green House”, the most popular Iranian TV series during 1996, he played the role of the father of the protagonist, which was played by Khosrow Shakibaei (1944- 2008) – a lawyer living with his family and close relatives in an apartment, going through various adventures each day.

Asadzadeh had recently received the lifetime achievement award at the 7th Shahr International Film Festival in Tehran.

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Oscars: Iran selects ‘Finding Farideh’ for intl. feature category

reporter 1222 — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 07:00:13 +0000

‘Finding Farideh’ was selected as Iran’s entry from the final list of nominees which included ‘Castle of Dreams’ by Reza Mirkarimi, and ‘6.5 Per Meter’ by Saeed Roustayi.

‘Finding Farideh’ is a documentary about an Iranian girl named Farideh, who has been adopted by a Dutch couple 40 years ago, and now she overcomes her fears and travels to her motherland Iran for the first time to meet three families who claim to be her real family, and to find out about her Iranian identity and culture.

The documentary has taken part in a number of international film festivals such as the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in the US, and was selected as best documentary at the 20th Iran Cinema Celebration in Tehran in September 2013.

It is also slated to take part at the 19th Flahertiana International Documentary Film Festival in Russia from September 20 to 26.

Iran’s entry for the previous edition of the Academy Awards was Vahid Jalilvand’s ‘No Date, No Signature’, which failed to make it to the list of nominees.

Iran won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2017 for ‘The Salesman’ and in 2012 for ‘A Separation’, both of which directed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.

The 92nd Academy Awards are slated to be held on February 9, 2020.

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Narges Abyar wins Leading Figure of the Year title

reporter 1222 — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 06:10:16 +0000

The awarding ceremony for the 2nd edition of Cinema Cinema Academy Awards, Iran’s first private film academy, was held at Tehran’s Enghelab Hotel on Saturday night.

The winners received the Mehrgiah (mandrake) award, a mythical plant and the symbol of fertility, love and unity in Iranian culture. The bronze award represents a mandrake with five leaves placed on a rock-shaped stand.

The Leading Figure of the Year title went to Narges Abyar, whose latest drama ‘When the Moon Was Full’ had won the Crystal Simorgh for best film and other top awards for its cast and crew at the 37th Fajr International Film Festival in 2019.

She was competing for the title with other filmmakers including Mohsen Amiryusefi, Bahram Tavakkoli, Saeid Rustai, Hooman Seyyedi and Reza Mirkarimi, as well as actors Navid Mohammadzadeh, Javad Ezzati and Ali Nasirian.

The best actress award went to Zahra Davoudnejad for her performance in ‘No. 17 Soheila’, directed by Mahmoud Ghaffari.

The Mehrgiah award for best actor went to Navid Mohammadzadeh for his role in ‘Sheeple’, directed by Hooman Seyyedi.

‘Sheeple’ is about brothers Shakur and Shahin, two lowlifes who run a crystal meth laboratory hidden in Tehran. They do care about the honor of their family, however. When a video of their sister revealing her hair ends up on the internet, the brothers become the protagonists of some strange incidents.

‘Sheeple’ also received the best director award for Hooman Seyyedi, as well as the best film award, presented to the producer Saeid Sa’di.

Mohsen Amiryousefi received the best script award for ‘Lovely Trash’, and Pouya Badkoubeh won the first-time filmmaker award for ‘Dressage’.

The Cinema Cinema Academy Awards can be considered as the Iranian equivalent of the Oscars.

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‘Sleep No More’ goes to Flickers Rhode Island fest. in US

reporter 1222 — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 10:10:07 +0000

The screenplay for ‘Sleep no More’ has already taken part in a number of other festivals, including the Independent Talents International Film Festival in the US. It also received a nomination for best screenplay at the Twister Alley Film Festival which was held in the US earlier this May.

The Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) celebrates the independent spirit in film. According to the event’s website, in 2018, the festival presented 295 films representing works that were shot and produced in 48 countries.

RIIFF has been selected as a qualifying festival for Best Short Subject through the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is also a BAFTA-qualifying Festival in the Short Film Division.

The 24th edition of the event will be held on 6-11 August, 2019.

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‘A Separation’ among 100 Best Movies of the Decade

reporter 1222 — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 12:30:17 +0000

‘A Separation’ directed by Asghar Farhadi in 2011 is among the IndieWire’s “100 best movies from a decade that changed everything”. Winner of the Golden Bear, the Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, Farhadi’s shattering drama meticulously leverages a custody battle into a searing examination of the ties that bind families together (and break them apart) in society. The director’s sharp script embeds the audience with Simin (Leila Hatami), who wants to leave Iran to give her daughter a better chance at freedom, and her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi), whose ailing father is anchoring him in place. Farhadi traces the emotional fallout of his film’s central dilemma with such intensity and evenhanded rigor that “A Separation” fully realizes the painful inertia of a relationship in free fall.

Payman Maadi; the actor and Leila Hatami; the actress of ‘A Separation’ are also selected among 50 Best Movie Performances of the Decade in the list of IndieWire. They both won Silver Bear for Best Actor and Actress of Berlin International Film Festival.

IndieWire is one of the leading sites covering film and television, and this week, they’re celebrating best cinema since the year 2010.

On the list of 100 Best Movies of the Decade, there are two other titles by Iranian filmmakers, namely ‘Certified Copy’ (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010), and ‘This Is Not a Film’ (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2011).

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