The festival, dedicated to Iranian cinema, will celebrate its sixth year from 30th May to 2nd June in the German city of Cologne.
The lineup for this year’s festival includes Iranian features such as ‘Orange Days’, ‘The Paternal House’, ‘The Report of Yousefi’s Runaway’, ‘Reza’, and ‘Sheeple’.
The festival’s “Visions of Iran”, according to the event’s website, presents strong feature film debuts. Arash Lahooti’s “Orange Days” tells the story of the hard everyday life of a column of harvest workers, Alireza Motamedi’s “Reza” portrays a gentle individualist, who escapes family constraints, and Hossein Toghiri shows a group of young city dwellers in search of happiness (“Report of Yousefi’s Runaway”). Passionate as usual enfant terrible Hooman Seyedi roams the streets of poverty and drug use in Tehran slums in his film “Sheeple”.
Documentaries include ’16 Women’, ‘Midnight Traveler’, ‘Mouth Harp in Minor Key’, and ‘Song of God’. “Mouth Harp in Minor Key”, winner of the Tehran film festival “Cinema Verité”, portrays the important film historian Hamid Naficy in his California Exile. The event will also look at the dramatic water situation in Iran with Mohammad Ehsani‘s “Karoon”, followed by a panel discussion. A further focus lies on the minorities of Iran: “Song of God” gives insights into the enigmatic culture of the Yarsani, who pass their culture through masters of the tanbour lute.
The screening program also includes seven short animated pieces, such as ‘Black and White’, ‘The Heart of the Scarecrow’, and ‘My Moon, Our Moon’, as well as three short film programs in cooperation with Iranian associations.
MS