The jury praised Bahrami's work with the following words, “Using a sad and destroyed place, the director shows an archaic, universal drama akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. Additionally, the performances of the actors are intriguing. One can never forget the metaphoric atmosphere with poetic imagery as if in a dream. This film is a celebration of cinema and art.”
Ahmad Bahrami’s previous feature 'The Wasteland' premiered in Venice, picking up three prizes in 2020, including the Orizzonti Best Film Award, before featuring in PÖFF’s Current Waves program that year.
The synopsis of 'The Wastetown' reads, "A remote brick manufacturing factory produces bricks in an ancient way. Many families with different ethnicities work in the factory and the boss seems to hold the key to solving their problems. Forty-year-old Lotfollah (Ali Bagheri), who has been born on-site, is the factory supervisor and acts as the go-between for the workers and the boss. Boss (Farrokh Nemati) has told Lotfollah to gather all the workers in front of his office. He wants to talk to them about the shutdown of the factory. All matters now to Lotfollah is to keep Sarvar (Mahdie Nassaj) unharmed, the woman he has been in love with for a long time."
Started in 1997, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has grown into one of the biggest film festivals in Northern Europe and the busiest regional industry platforms, hosting more than 1000 guests and industry delegates, and over 160 journalists. The festival screens around 250 features and more than 300 shorts and animations and sees an attendance of 80,000 people annually.
The 26th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival took place from Nov 11-27, 2022.
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