A Look at the 43rd Annual Fajr Film Festival

The Fajr Film Festival is the most important domestic film festival in Iran. It is held in early February each year by the Farabi Cinema Foundation and supervised by the Ministry of Culture. This year will be the 43rd festival.

There are far more entries this year than the previous few festivals, including a separate animation category.

I’ve given a short description of each film that we know about below. The best is saved for last, so make sure to scroll all the way!

Main Festival:

1. 1968’, directed by Amirmehdi Pourvaziri

   

   After Parviz Khan was featured last year, this will be the second Fajr Festival to feature a football related film. The story of this film revolves around the Iran-Israel final of the 1968 AFC Asian Cup.

   Featuring Amir Norouzi, Amir Ahmad Qazvini, & Padina Kiani

2.  ‘Pregnant’ directed by Mostafa Tanabandeh and Muhammad Tanabandeh

   

   A few different characters, each plagued by their own personal crises have gathered in a cabin on the coast in Astara so that a smuggler can take them across the border. But then …

   Featuring Abbas Ghazali, Sogol Khaligh, & Toomaj Danesh Behzadi.

3. ‘Antique’ directed by Hadi Naeiji

   

   Part of the growing ‘Dahe 60 Comedy’ genre, this film is about two thieves who decide to, during the early 1980s, create a fake Imamzadeh to swindle people’s money.

   Featuring Pezhman Jamshidi, Bijan Banafshehkah, and Setareh Pesyani.

4. ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ directed by Muhammad Reza Kheradmandan

   

   This film (also translated into “Guardian of the Field” in some places) shares its title with the Persian title of J.D. Salinger’s famous novel (it’s unclear if there’s more similarities). The film is based on a true story and about “mohitbans” (park rangers).

   Featuring Shabnam Ghorbani, Ali Salehi, Babak Karimi, and Saeid Aghakhani.

5. ‘Esfand’ directed by Danesh Eqbashavi

   

   Esfand is a war movie about the Iranian commander Ali Hashemi, who was known as General of the Marshes, while he was planning for Operation Kheybar, one of the biggest Iranian offensives into Iraqi soil, in Nosrat Headquarters. It also covers the tensions between the local Arab tribes and Iranian soldiers during this period & Hashemi’s efforts to resolve them.

   Featuring Reza Masoudi, Mahdi Zaminpardaz, Saeed Albo Ebadi, and Khayam Vaghar Kashani.

6. ‘King of Roles’ directed by Shahed Ahmadloo

   

   Shahab and Naser are old movie stars that participate in their guild’s elections. This decision starts a series of events …

   Featuring Behrang Alavi, Hooman Bargh Noorad, Enayat Bakhshi, Nasim Adabi, and Mohamad Motevaseli.

7. ‘Prophet Moses’ by Ebrahim Hatamikia

   

   Renowned Iranian director Ebrahim Hatamikia has been working on a series about the Islamic narrative of Prophet Moses for a few years. He submitted a movie version of the series, focusing on Moses’s childhood, for this year’s Fajr Festival. This will be the first time an Iranian film uses virtual production.

   Featuring Merila Zare'i, Alireza Kamali, Behnam Tashakor, and Bahareh Kian Afshar

8. ‘Almond Eyes [Cheshm Badomi]’ directed by Ebrahim Amini

   

   Maedeh, a 16 year old Shirazi girl, falls in love with a Korean singer and wants to travel to Seoul to reach him.

   Featuring Sareh Bayat, Mehdi Hashemi, Ali Bagheri, and Setayesh Dehghan.

9. ‘The Hunter [Sayyad]’ by Javad Afshar

   

   One of the biggest releases of this year’s festival, Sayyad is about the life of Ali Sayad Shirazi, a famous Iranian general during the Iran-Iraq War, who commanded Iranian forces in major battles like Operation Nasr 4 and Operation Mersad. Sayad Shirazi was assassinated by the MEK in 1999. The movie covers both his life as a commander and his family life. The plot revolves heavily around tensions between the army and IRGC in the early years of the war.

   Featuring Ali Sarabi, Maral Baniadam (Baniadam and Sarabi are husband & wife, and show more intimacy than normal in an Iranian film), Hooman Barghnavard, and Nader Soleimani.

10. ‘Call Me Ziba’ directed by Rasoul Sadr-Ameli

    

    This children’s movie is based on an award winning book with the same name by Farhad Hassanzadeh. The protagonist is a 15 year old girl who lives in an institute affiliated with child protection services. Her mother is an addict and her father is confined to an insane asylum. On her birthday, Ziba attempts to help her father escape … This film takes place entirely on Tehran’s Vali Asr Street, starting off in Rah Ahan and ending in Tajrish.

    Featuring Amin Hayai and several others.

11. ‘Taxidermy’ directed by Mohammad Paydar

    

    Taxidermy is a fantasy film about the former Shah’s step brother, who was an avid hunter and is trying to hunt the endangered Persian Fallow Deer. On the eve of the victory of the 1979 revolution, he enters the forests in Northern Iran to find the deer.

    Featuring Majid Salehi, Hadi Kazemi, Anahita Dargahi, and Hassan Majooni.

12. ‘Setareh’s Husband’ directed by Ebrahim Irajzad

    

    There isn’t a lot of information released yet about this film. It appears to be a family drama relating to social issues.

    Featuring Hamed Behdad and Fariba Naderi

13. ‘God of War’ by Hossein Darabi

    

    God of War is a film about Hassan Tehrani Moghadam, the father of Iran’s missile program. The official description of the film is, “The Libyans take out pieces of the missiles to the Iranians can’t use them in the war against Saddam, leading to a crisis”. No actor plays the role of Tehrani Moghadam himself, but the film focuses on those around him. It also is rumored to show “an unknown narrative about an important contemporary event”.

    Featuring Saed Soheili, Dariush Kardan, Hossein Soleimani, and Payam Ahmadinia.

14. ‘Free’ directed by Hesam Farahmand

    

    Free is a social melodrama featuring two of Iran’s biggest movie superstars. The story revolves around 55 year old Touhid who lives an average life along with his wife and children - until a simple event completely changes everything …

    Featuring Shahab Hosseini, Ghazal Shakeri, Zaha Esmaeili, and Arman Mirzaei

15. ‘Peshmerga’ directed by Ali Ghaffari

    

    Peshmerga is another film about a major figure from the Iran-Iraq War - Saeid Ghahari. However unlike other entries in the festival, the focus of the film isn’t during the war but his life after. Ghahari was killed in clashes with the Kurdish separatist group PJAK in 2007.

    Featuring Mehdi Nosrati, Elnaz Malek, and Sanaz Saeidi.

16. ‘Justice’ directed by Abolfazl Jalali

    

    Abolfazl Jalali, one of the most renowned directors in the “Iranian New Wave” returns to the Fajr Festival after a long absence with Justice. This movie is about a youth detention center in which children whose parents cannot afford bail and want to take leave (something allowed in Iran) must swear in court that they promise they will return after their leave is over. One child is not willing to take this oath. On the next day the judge decides to personally guarantee his leave …

    Featuring Abolfazl Salimi, Kaveh Darabi, and Masoud Amin Naji.

17. ‘End the Game’ directed by Ebrahim Azizi

    

    This film, which is based on a true story, is about Musa, a former football player who loses his brother in a sport’s related accident. While trying to discover the secrets of his brother’s death he is confronted with some unexpected truths …

    Featuring Mohsen Kiaei, Hoda Zeinolabedin, Mohammad Bahrani, and Matin Heydarinia.

18. ‘Deep Crack’ directed by Arman Zarrinkoub

    

    Arman Zarrinkoub is a very experienced Iranian producer who has worked on several major works including the hit television series Setayesh. Deep Crack (previously titled ‘Waltz for Three’) is his first experience as a director. The film is about a man who has been released from a psychiatric hospital. His wife locks the doors and windows before he comes home. Soon, the arrival of a third individual reveals some dark secrets …

    Featuring Reza Babak, Babak Ansari, Hamid Rashid, and Golchehreh Sajadiye.

19. ‘A Time in Eternity’ directed by Mehdi Norouzian

    

    This is Iranian-British Mehdi Norouzian’s first film made in Iran. The producer is Niki Karimi, one of the most prominent figures in Iranian cinema. The story is about a woman named Maryam whose husband has mysteriously disappeared, leaving her and her 12 year old daughter by themselves. Maryam hopes her husband is alive and will return, but until then, her life becomes far more complicated.

    Featuring Leila Hatami, Navid Pourfaraj, Babak Hamidian, and the late Bita Farrahi.

20. ‘A Childless Village’ directed by Reza Jamali

    

    This film was filmed in Iran’s Ardebil province and is entirely in Azeri. It is about a village where no children have been born for 20 years & the men blame the woman. Kazem, an old director, had made a documentary about the infertility of the village’s women years ago, but the woman of the village had stolen and destroyed it. Now, after two decades, Kazem realizes he was wrong and the problem was somewhere else. He decides to make a new documentary showing the truth, but encounters some problems ….

    Featuring Maryam Momen, Hamdollah Salimi, and Behrooz Allahverdizadeh.

21. ‘North by Southwest’ directed by Hamid Zargarnejad

    

    This film’s title is an allusion to Hitchcock’s thriller “North by Northwest”. It is an action movie that takes place during the Iran-Iraq War. A truck full of explosive material is smuggled into Iran from Iraq for sabotage operations in Iran’s Northern provinces. Intelligence tracks the truck, but suddenly loses its trail …

    Featuring Mostafa Zamani, Amir Aghaee, and Behnaz Jafari.

22. "Hundred Traps’ directed Pedram Pouramiri

    

    The words ‘Hundred Traps’ sound like the name ‘Saddam’ in Persian. This comedy is about a man who gets in trouble because he resembles Saddam Hussein and is asked to act like his body double.

    Featuring Reza Attaran, Abbas Jamshidifar, and Azadeh Samadi.

23. ‘Highway Deer’ directed by Abolfazl Saffari

    

    ‘Highway Deer’ is a social drama which will likely be one of the most anticipated films of this year’s festival. It is about a motorcycle corrier that happens to follow the car of a famous blogger. The blogger, who is in the middle of a livestream, thinks he is a thief, causing everything to quickly go viral …

    Featuring Elnaz Shakerdoost, Navid Pourfaraj, Sadaf Espahbodi, Behnoosh Bakhtiari, and Peyman Qasemkhani.

24. ‘The Calm Man’ directed by Behnoush Sadeghi

    

    Behnoush Sadeghi is the only female director in this year’s festival. This is also the first time Mehdi Hashemi, a famous Iranian actor, is producing a film. The film is about Nobahar, a woman who marries an older man named Zaman. During the beginning of their marriage, certain events happen that completely change her perspective about time.

    Featuring Mehdi Hashemi and Shamila Shirzad. Shirzad is the young Afghan actress that received global praise for her role in ‘Sun Children’.

25. ‘Maria’ directed by Mehdi Asghari Azghadi

    

    A clip of a video young aspiring actress playing the role of a street prostitute accidentally goes viral. No one believes that this video was just part of an acting trial, not even her parents. Two years later …

    Featuring Saber Abar, Pantea Panahiha, Mahshid Khodadadi, and Hossein Mahjoub.

26. ‘Tears of the Lagoon’ directed by Mehdi Jafari

    

    Tears of the Lagoon is also about the life of Iranian war commander Ali Hashemi, just like the film Esfand. The film is the movie version of a yet to be released series called “The Secret Nosrat Headquarters”. The film has a strong focus on Hashemi’s mother and her twenty two year long wait to hear news about the fate of her son.

    Featuring Roya Afshar, Reza Sameri, Meysam Razfar, and Tooraj Alvand.

27. ‘The People’s Child’ directed by Mahmoud Karimi

    

    There isn’t too much information out about the plot of this film, but it features a very experienced staff and cast. It follows the life of a child whose mother abandons him . Director Mahmoud Karimi is a famous Iranian documentary maker who worked on the hit Iranian show ‘Khandevaneh’.

    Featuring Gohar Kheyrandish, Reza Kianian, and Hassan Majooni.

28. ‘All Alone’ directed by Amir Hussein Saghafi

    

    Two homeless men are searching the city for a woman to save.

    Featuring Majid Mozaffari, Mahmoud Nazaralian, Ali Oji, and Narges Mohammadi.

29. ‘Bloody Game’ directed by Hussein Mirzamuhammadi

    

    Years have passed since the war and Ali’s fate is still not clear. Bedran was the last person to ever see Ali, amongst the fire and smoke, in the island … This film is about the aftermath of events in the northern city of Amol in the first years after the revolution.

    Featuring Arastoo Khoshmrazm, Sara Hatami, and Payam Ahmadinia.

30. ‘The Cry’ directed by Mohammad Reza Ardalan

    

    Havar gets a job at a chicken farm. A murder takes places in the chicken farm, pulling him into a series of events ….

    Featuring Behzad Dorani, Mehrdad Ziaei, and Alireza Mehran.

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31. ‘Closure’ directed by Soheil Movaffagh

    

    There isn’t too much information released about this film. It appears to be a slapstick comedy involving ring fighting.

    Featuring Mehran Ghaffourian, Mohsen Kiaei, and Iman Safa.

32. ‘Louli’ directed by Reza Farahmand

    

    Golsa’s fate and knowledge about the fate of her husband depend on secrets that Mansoor is hiding. If Musa is able to learn the truth from Mansoor and Safoora can help Musa overcome his stuttering, then maybe Khosrow will no longer leave Moneer waiting …

    Featuring Dariush Amini, Zhila Alerashid, Mahboubeh Soltani, and Narges Hazareh.

33. Khati’ directed by Fereydoun Najafi

    

    Not much has been released about this film yet (more details will be published after it is shown in the festival). The only description divulged so far is: “Tragedy starts when you are condemned to go, when you, like the loneliest tree rooted in the oak forest”.

    Featuring Sara Bahrami, Anahita Afshar, Saeid Aghakhani, Farid Sajadi Hosseini.

Animations:

1. ‘Legend of Sepehr’ directed by Emad Rahmani and Mehrdad Mehrabi

   

   There’s not much information out about this animated film. The only description says, “Every legend needs a hero …”

2. ‘Dolphin Boy 2’ directed by Muhammad Kheirandish

   

   The sequel to Dolphin Boy, one of the most commercially successful Iranian children’s animations in recent history, which also gained some international success. The series is about the adventures of a boy who is saved from an airplane crash by a dolphin.

3. ‘Zal and Roudabeh’ directed by Muhammad Ali Sajjadi

   

   There’s not much information released about this animated film. It appears to be about a love story found in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

4. ‘Juliet and the King’ directed by Ashkan Rahgozar

   

   Last but not least - my favorite film of the entire festival - the animation Juliet and the King. The story of this romantic comedy musical rotates around Naser al-Din Shah and his court. During one of the King’s trips to Europe, he sees the play “Romeo and Juliet” and decides he wants to have the play in Tehran … The trailer for the film can be seen here.

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