On the sidelines of the festival, Mahmoudi held a workshop on directing and filmmaking.

‘Rona, Azim’s Mother’ centers around Azim, an afghan refugee, who lives and works in Tehran along with his family. Being the head of entire family and as the eldest brother, he arranges for his brother Faroogh, and his family along with their mother to be smuggled into Germany. But at the last moments Faroogh shamefully makes his decision known to Azim that he’s not going to take their mother who is very attached to her grandchildren. Azim who feels lonely and is furious, accidentally finds out that his mother is in dire need of a kidney transplant, otherwise she’ll die in 2 months. He has to choose between his own life and his mother’s whom he has always claimed as the most important one in his life.

The film had previously grabbed the Kim Jiseok Award at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival.

Sama Film Festival is organized by a working group that are involved in cinema and cultural activities at the “Afghan Pen Club” in Sweden. The festival tries to display more of the Afghan filmmakers as well as some foreign filmmakers that have made films about Afghanistan, according to the event’s website.

The festival was held on 13-15 September 2019 in Stockholm.

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 Jamshid Mahmoudi’s ‘Rona, Azim’s Mother’ has won INALCO prize of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations’ INALCO Jury in France.

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The festival established the Kim Jiseok Award in memory of Kim Ji-seok, co-founder of the festival who passed away this year.

The Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi are the director and producer of “Rona, Azim’s Mother”, whose story is set in Tehran.

Starring Iranian actors Mohsen Tanabandeh and Mojtaba Pirzadeh, the film is about Azim, an Afghan refugee who works as a janitor in Tehran. While helping his mother and his brother’s family plan to smuggle themselves into Germany, he feels betrayed by his brother when he abandons their mother. Nonetheless, Azim takes good care of his mother. One day, she ends up hospitalized in critical condition, and the only way to save her is through a kidney transplant. However, it is impossible for a foreigner to get a donor in Iranian society, so Azim tries to donate his kidney, but the doctor has him detained.

“The Rib”, directed by Zhang Wei, is an empathetic and elegantly crafted portrait of the struggle for rights and recognition within China’s transgender community, told through a story of parents and children, whose faith and identity are at odds.

“Savage” by Si Wei Cui from China and Korean psychodrama “Clean Up” by Kwon Man-ki also shared the New Currents award.

The organizers decided to award two female actors this year instead of one female and one male. Hee-seo Choi was awarded for her role in “Our Body” and Juyeong Lee also was honored for her role in “Maggie”.

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The Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi are the director and producer of the movie, whose story is set in Tehran.

Starring Iranian actors Mohsen Tanabandeh and Mojtaba Pirzadeh, the film is about Azim, an Afghan refugee who works as a janitor in Tehran. While helping his mother and his brother’s family plan to smuggle themselves into Germany, he feels betrayed by his brother when he abandons their mother. Nonetheless, Azim takes good care of his mother. One day, she ends up hospitalized in critical condition, and the only way to save her is through a kidney transplant. However, it is impossible for a foreigner to get a donor in Iranian society, so Azim tries to donate his kidney, but the doctor has him detained.

“Rona, Azim’s Mother” will have its world premiere today during the 23rd Busan International Film Festival, which is currently underway in the South Korean city.

The Mahmudi brothers’ “Parting”, which was also an Afghan-Iranian joint production about love and migration, was submitted by Afghanistan to the 89th Annual Academy Awards to represent the country in the best foreign language film category at the 2017 Oscars.

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