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A Castle With Red Walls :: In Memory of a forever banned filmmaker
A documentary about an Iranian filmmaker, whose more than 100 films have been banned in Iran both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution. He died on October 2019 and didn't manage to see any one of his banned films screened publicly..

Staying :: Mani Haghighgi's new documentary released after 30 years
"I was outside Iran during the missile attack on Tehran, in the final days of the war, and I considered this a great loss in my life experience. I thought I would talk to a number of prominent Iranian painters who had decided to stay in.."

CPH:DOX 2025 :: Review: 'Facing War' :: NATO chief Stoltenberg navigates his final year
NATO chief Stoltenberg navigates his final year, balancing Ukraine support promises with rising European war fears. His diplomatic skills face tests in maintaining alliance unity, especially with leaders like Erdogan and Orban..

"Blue" :: Eleonora Puglia's directorial debut :: starring Rocco Siffredi
Eleonora Puglia's directorial debut Blue follows Luce, a young student who faces difficult choices while navigating the deceptive world of the internet, particularly erotic websites and social media. The film addresses the dangers of the digital realm..

‘6 A.M.’ Review: A Time-Ticking Thriller in Which the Protagonist’s Freedoms Prove Illusory
Iran's beloved satirist Mehran Modiri switches with mixed results. He writes, directs and performs in the intense but increasingly contrived social issues movie ‘6 A.M.’ in which a small incident escalates into a big tragedy..

The Oscars 2025 :: Can ‘The Girl with the Needle’ win an Oscar?
Denmark is in the running this year for best international film at the Oscars. But the acclaimed film — which highlights a real-life child killer and delves into abortion — might be too political for the Academy...

The Oscars 2025 :: 97th Academy Awards :: In the Shadow of the Cypress :: Q&A with the directors
"In the Shadow of the Cypress" has ridden a challenging road to being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Made in Iran out of the pockets of directors Shirin Sohani..

BERLINALE 2025 Awards :: Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love) bags the Berlinale Golden Bear
The 75th Berlinale has been brought to a close by the traditional awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast, which saw the triumph of Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love)..

IFFR 2025 :: Igor Bezinovic’s ‘Fiume o morte!’ Wins Tiger Award
Igor Bezinovic’s hybrid documentary “Fiume o morte!” was awarded the Tiger Award, the top prize of the International Film Festival Rotterdam on Friday evening. “We live in a very intense period and I hope that the good guys will win”..

IFFR 2025 :: Sunshine Express :: Tiger Competition
Nominated for the prestigious Tiger Award at the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Amirali Navaee's Sunshine Express is a sumptuous allegory, examining how totalitarian systems sustain themselves through collective complicity...

IFFR 2025 Review: The Crowd :: Sahand Kabiri
The Crowd shows the young filmmaker Sahand Kabiri’s sense of rhythm (and that’s not just the ambient techno needle drops) as well as his brazen willingness to fly in the face of the rules and regulations of Iranian censorship..

Roberts: Film and TV Awards :: Full of Love :: The Danish film of the year
Stine Stengade took home the evening's first award for Full of Love for her outstanding performance in a supporting role, but that was only the beginning for Christina Rosendahl's film, which received six additional awards..

GOLDEN GLOBES 2025 :: European (co-)productions sweep the Golden Globes
Emilia Pérez triumphs with four statuettes and The Brutalist follows with three, with Flow shining bright as the surprise winner of the animated picture category..

‘Nostalgia’ :: Mario Martone’s Neapolitan Thriller :: An Unsentimental Look at Returning Home
This cautionary tale about reconnecting with family and first love is best when it's at its cruelest. “Our past is a labyrinth.. But there are these little voices that still call you from time to..

EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2024 :: Emilia Pérez sweeps the European Film Awards
The film by Jacques Audiard has dominated proceedings with five wins; other winners include No Other Land, Flow, Armand and Souleymane's Story..

Vahid Vakilifar :: Director of Rhinos Conquered The Middle East (2024)
The director, whose films have appeared at festivals like Rotterdam, Tribeca, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, and Antalya, embraces a style distinct from the traditional approach of Iranian cinema..

K9 :: Sailing Against the Tide :: Vahid Vakilifar, An Independent Filmmaker
Vahid Vakilifar's fourth film, K9, is an intoxicating visionary sci-fi that believes in the power of light despite the darkness consuming the world. Even in the bloodiest images there is at least a glimmer of hope..

Movie Review :: Daddio (2024)
Dialogue can lie, but faces tell the truth. Stories are told through faces. It takes enormous trust on the part of a director to allow this to happen, to let the faces do most of the heavy lifting. A two-character film with wall-to-wall dialogue. Dakota Johnson's and Sean Penn's faces fill..

‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Seed of the Sacred Fig,’ ‘The Room Next Door’ Lead European Film Award Nominations
The 37th European Film Awards, which take place annually in the lakeside Swiss city of Lucerne, have unveiled their nominations for 2024. Unsurprisingly, the list is led by French..

VALENCIA 2024 :: Review: A Bathroom of One's Own
“I have never known why people like the smell of napalm in the morning. Nor why it is strange that I like the smell of the bathroom. You know, that dense, sometimes fruity aroma, but for me the bathroom is the only place where I can..”

New York 2024 Review :: NO OTHER LAND Chronicles Living Under Occupation
A co-production between Palestine and Norway, the film was selected for the Panorama section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, winning..

"My Favorite Cake" :: film directors accused of "Spreading Corruption" in a new case
In addition to "Propaganda Against the Regime", they have also been accused of two new charges, including "spreading corruption through the production of vulgar films and spreading..

‘All We Imagine as Light’ and ‘April’ Lead Nominations for Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Two films by women directors, Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “April” lead the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards..

Trump Campaign staff Calls "The Apprentice" Malicious Defamation
US presidential candidate Donald Trump's legal team are reaching out for Ali Abbasi, "The Apprentice" Danish-Iranian film director. The story of Trump is also the story of the development of the perception of reality in our..

Azar Nafisi's READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN is now a film!
The autobiographical story of a fearless teacher who secretly gathers seven of her female students to read forbidden Western classics in revolutionary Iran. It is directed by Eran Riklis, written by Marjorie David..

Could ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ Cause the Academy to Rethink How Countries Select International Oscar Candidates?
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s politically-charged thriller is becoming..

TOKYO 2024 :: EXCLUSIVE: Trailer for Roya Sadat’s historical drama film Sima’s Song
The movie, premiering at Tokyo, tells a tale of friendship and ideological clashes as two women navigate the complexities of Afghanistan's shifting political landscape..

TOKYO 2023 :: Film Review :: Maria by Mahdi Asghari Azghadi :: A captivating thriller noir
“Maria” is a captivating thriller noir that remains interesting from beginning to end, while making a very intriguing comment about the impact of cinema..

Tokyo film festival reveals 2024 Line-up with strong Asian presence
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which includes world premieres of features from China, Japan and Hong Kong among its competition strands..

WARSAW 2024 :: The 40th Warsaw Film Festival :: Main programme
This year’s edition of the Warsaw Film Festival, unfolding between 11 and 20 October, will present 84 feature films, amongst which 26 world premieres, 18 international premieres, 6 European premieres, 5 Eastern European..

TIFF 2023 :: Farhad Delaram :: Director of Achilles
Writer-director Farhad Delaram made this film as the bloody crackdown on protesters began in his home country. His feature debut is a testament to the magnitude of collective cracks that - when amassed - can tear down walls..

VENICE 2024 Awards LIVE: The awards of the 81st Venice Film Festival
The list of winners is being unveiled at the festival's closing ceremony. “Cinema is in great shape.” These were the words of Isabelle Huppert, the chair of the jury, which has handed the Golden Lion to director Pedro Almodóvar..

VENICE 2024 Orizzonti Extra :: Nader Saeivar :: Director of The Witness
“The new generation wants to win using forgiveness and beauty”. VENICE 2024: The Iranian director explains how he intended to commemorate the women’s movement and its non-violent forms of protest..

VENICE 2024 International Film Critics’ Week • Milad Tangshir • Director of Anywhere Anytime
“I wouldn’t just remake a timeless masterpiece – I’m not crazy”. The director explains how a regular bicycle can, for some people, mean the difference between survival or simply not..

VENICE 2024 :: International Film Critics’ Week :: Awards
Vietnam's Don’t Cry, Butterfly wins the Grand Prize at Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week. US title Homegrown scooped the prize for Best Technical Contribution, while Jethro Massey’s Paul & Paulette Take a Bath snagged the Audience Award..

VENICE 2024 Out of Competition • Thomas Vinterberg • Director of Families Like Ours
The acclaimed director talks about his choice of subject, his creative process and whether there’s a Danish film wave still out there. “You could say that we inspired COVID, rather than..”

Venice 2024 :: ‘The Witness’ :: Director Talks Iran Situation, Working With Jafar Panahi (EXCLUSIVE)
“The Witness,” premiering at the Venice Film Festival, has sold to Benelux, France and No.mad Entertainment. Directed by Nader Saeivar, and co-written by Saeivar and Jafar..

VENICE 2024 Out of Competition • Amos Gitai • Director of Why War
What fuels the human need to destroy and kill? Why do people go to war with each other? The Israeli director offers a kaleidoscopic film essay on war, fuelled by a historic exchange of letters between Einstein and Freud..

TIFF 2024 :: Offers a stellar lineup of highly anticipated films
Another September, another Toronto International Film Festival. This year feels particularly special, like there’s something in the pre-festival air. Perhaps it’s because of the stellar lineup, with other festival heavy hitters..

TIFF 2024 :: Seven Days :: Haft Rooz :: WORLD PREMIERE
Written by Mohammad Rasoulof — also at the Toronto Film Festival with The Seed of the Sacred Fig — directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi and shot by Mathias Neumann, Seven Days perfectly captures the personal costs of the struggle for..

Alain Delon, a universal icon :: A legend of French cinema and a key figure in the global film industry
“With the passing away of Alain Delon, France has lost one of its universal icons”. The French Presidency paid tribute to the star in a statement released on the very day of..

Oscars: Germany Submits Mohammad Rasoulof’s ‘The Seed Of The Sacred Fig’ For International Feature Film Race
Germany has selected Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s drama The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy..

LOCARNO 2024 Awards :: Toxic wins the Golden Leopard at Locarno
The festival has elevated two courageous Lithuanian directors, Saulė Bliuvaitė and Laurynas Bareiša, to the highest podium, along with the equally radical Kurdish-Austrian director Kurdwin Ayub..

LOCARNO 2024 Piazza Grande • Mohammad Rasoulof • Director of The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Iranian director fills us in on the background to his Cannes-awarded film as well as on the current political situation in Iran. 'The regime is a minefield. All it wants at the moment is to..'

LOCARNO 2024 :: Semaine de la Critique :: Review: A Sisters’ Tale
Iranian director Leila Amini films her sister, an aspiring singer, across seven years, in a country where public singing by women is banned. The restrictions on women’s rights in Iran, and the waves of unrest against them..

VENICE 2024 :: FIRST LOOK :: Families Like Ours
“Countries disappear, love remains.” The country which perishes is Denmark in a not-too-distant future. A grandiose and intimate family drama about a nation forced to say goodbye to the homeland..

VENICE 2024 :: Venice selects 21 films to compete for the Golden Lion
Great returns, some confirmations and a few surprises, both in competition and out, in the varied line-up of this year’s Venice Film Festival. Alberto Barbera has promised many more surprises during his press conference..

‘The Things You Kill’
Best Friend Forever Acquires Alireza Khatami’s Thriller
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights of Alireza Khatami’s “The Things You Kill.” A timely, gripping narrative that elevates..

Universal Language :: A Whimsical Fusion of Tehran and Winnipeg
By converting his drab hometown into an exotic land filled with nostalgia, Matthew Rankin seems to be seeking out the universal language of cinema itself. He quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out..

EDINBURGH 2024 :: “A SHRINE” Selected for 77th Edinburgh IFF
The festival will feature the world premiere of “A SHRINE” directed by Abdolreza Kahani. This film, a collaborative production between Canada, Iran, and France, is set to compete for the highly esteemed Sean Connery Prize..

KARLOVY VARY 2024 Proxima :: Review: Nothing in Its Place
How far are people willing to go for their political beliefs, and how much can the ideology of a group influence the behavior of an individual? Nothing in Its Place holds up a mirror to more than one revolution..

KARLOVY VARY 2024 :: Noaz Deshe :: Director of Xoftex :: Interview
"I wanted to document the progression of the mental state of stateless people in a refugee camp." The director tells us more about his new film, in which he portrays refugees filming satirical sketches and preparing for a zombie..

KARLOVY VARY 2024 Competition :: Review: Xoftex
Xoftex is the name of a Greek refugee camp for Syrian and Palestinian asylum seekers. To pass the time, camp inhabitants such as Nasser make satirical short films and prepare to make a zombie film. Noaz Deshe explains how he..

Shanghai IFF 2023 :: A Review of 'Cause of Death: Unknown'
The first film by Ali Zarnegar receives an overall acceptable score. The writer and director's extensive experience, including his frequent involvement in short cinema, writing.., has had a positive impact on the film's quality..

Bahar Lellahi :: 40-year-old Iranian Female filmmaker Murdered in Prison
Bahar Lellahi, an Iranian director and screenwriter from the Northern city of Amol and a resident of Tehran, was killed at the Islamic Republic's detention center and was secretly buried in a cemetery near the city of Karaj..

Dead of Night :: A standout feature by Farhad Vilkiji
“Dead of Night”, a standout feature by Farhad Vilkiji, marking his directorial debut, delves into the struggles of an Iranian intellectual navigating political and personal challenges, promising a poignant exploration of human resilience..

BERLINALE 2024 Encounters :: Interview :: Matías Piñeiro
Matías Piñeiro’s experimental, hour-long film 'You Burn Me', an interesting work based on texts by Cesare Pavese and Sappho about the relationship between two women, was included in this year’s Berlinale Encounters program..

Super Size Me :: A terrific cheeky stunt :: small wonder Morgan Spurlock never matched it
'Super Size Me' director Morgan Spurlock dies aged 53. 'Super Size Me' was his masterpiece – a documentary which really did have an effect and challenged the way we think about food..

Cannes 2024 review :: 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' - A powerful rebellion in the name of art & freedom
Mohammad Rasoulof examines Iran's contemporary tensions through the internalization of turmoil by a family of four. It's a suspenseful and bold call to arms for those..

Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ Wins Palme d’Or at 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Sean Baker’s Anora has won the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night (May 25). It marks Baker’s second time in Competition, following 2021’s Red Rocket..

Cannes 2024 :: ‘Grand Tour’ :: Review :: In Search of Lost Time
Closer in spirit to an essay film like "Sans Soleil" than to a conventional love story, this lushly abstract travelogue is as gorgeous as it is impenetrable. Miguel Gomes’ Beguiling Colonial Romance Travels from Saigon to Shanghai in..

Cannes 2024 :: ‘All We Imagine as Light’ :: A Sensual Triumph
India’s First Cannes Competition Title in 30 Years Is a Sensual Triumph. Payal Kapadia captures the way two women in Mumbai move through the world with bracing intimacy. It is both dreamlike and like waking up from a dream..

Cannes 2024 :: Mohammad Rasoulof Speaking to IndieWire
Rasoulof Made It to Cannes for ‘Seed of the Sacred Fig,’ but His Perilous Journey Out of Iran Isn’t Over. "I consider making works of art as my right, and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t fight for this right."..

Cannes 2024 :: Donald Trump Origin Tale ‘The Apprentice’ Gets 11-Minute Ovation At Its Cannes World Premiere
The Trumps were on the red carpet this evening at the Cannes Film Festival — sort of — as Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice world premiered in competition. There was lots of hugs..

Cannes Film Festival 2024 ::
Francis Ford Coppola Finally Talks Megalopolis
The Oscar-winning legend has been the subject of deafening rumors about his self-financed new epic. For the first time in public, he finally got to tell his story...

UPDATE :: I exist to narrate :: Mohammad Rasoulof writes about his forced departure from Iran
By publishing a post on his personal Instagram page, he announced his forced departure from Iran. His writing, which you can read here, is a testament to the many artists who were driven..

The Phoenix (Simorgh) is finally online!
The Phoenix (Simorgh) is a short film Written & Directed by Nora Niasari. It follows Mr Farid, an exiled Iranian actor, who teaches drama to reluctant asylum seeker teenagers inside an Australian Detention Centre..

Films Boutique boards Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes Competition title
Berlin-based Films Boutique has secured world sales rights to Mohammad Rasoulof’s 'The Seed Of The Sacred Fig' ahead of its premiere in Competition at Cannes, and has closed a distribution deal in France..

Nika's Last Breath :: BBC World Service Documentaries
Secret document says Iran security forces molested and killed teen protester. An Iranian teenager was sexually assaulted and killed by three men working for Iran's security forces, a leaked document understood to have been..

Cannes Film Festival 2024 :: Michel Hazanavicius & Mohammad Rasoulof Movies in Competition Lineup
Cannes Film Festival has added some international titles to Competition Lineup: Hazanavicius‘ 'The Most Precious of Cargoes' and Rasoulof‘s 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig'..

'Biological Terror?!' :: Speculations about Alidoosti's unknown disease
According to some sources, Taraneh told her colleagues that she passed out during her interrogation by IRGC intelligence agents and then, realized that she was injected with an unknown ampoule, after which she felt dizzy..

Taraneh Alidoosti's mother: Pray for her! Her disease is severe!
The celebrated Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti's mother has announced that her daughter is suffering from an illness of "unknown origin". Earlier, there were reports that Taraneh Alidoosti was ill and hospitalized..

‘The Apprentice’ :: A dive into the underbelly of the American empire
The drama charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn. A first look at the forthcoming film from Ali Abbasi, set to premiere at Cannes..

STOCKFISH 2024 :: Review: Tove’s Room
A new biopic about Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen and her tortured marriage to the sadistic news editor Victor Andreasen. We’re in Copenhagen in 1969, and the entire action of this tense, neurotic – yet very intriguing – kammerspiel takes place..

American Fiction :: Movie Review
Jeffrey Wright gives a knockout performance in this edgy, Oscar-nominated comedy. Cord Jefferson marries broad humour with affecting familial dysfunction and biting observations on race. This season’s edgiest comedy arrives with richly deserved Oscar nominations for..

CPH:DOX 2024 :: Review: Silent Trees
Zwiefka – whose last film, Vika! has enjoyed a healthy festival run and is still travelling the world – now trains her lens on a completely different topic: the story of a Kurdish refugee girl stranded in the no man’s land between Belarus and Poland...

CPH:DOX 2024 :: Review: Immortals
Immortals is a dystopian film that turns into an ode to fragility, and it shows the contrasting feelings of those who allowed themselves the luxury of hoping that David might kill Goliath. Maja Tschumi’s film is built around the hopes and broken dreams, but most of all the..

Exiled Iranian Filmmakers Call Out AMPAS Over Omission
Exiled Iranian Filmmakers (IIFMA) has written to AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to protest the omission of murdered Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui from the In Memoriam segment of the Academy Award..

Oscar 2024 :: How to Watch Every 2024 Oscar-Nominated Movie
It’s time to fire up your Letterboxd, roller-skate out of the real world, and head off to movie land. The 2024 Oscar nominations have been officially announced, giving you a perfect watchlist for catching up on all the films you..

Berlin: Indie Juries Pick :: ‘Sex’, ‘Dying’ and ‘Cake’
Matthias Glasner's German family epic 'Sterben' (Dying), Iranian feature 'My Favourite Cake,' and Dag Johan Haugerud's Norwegian drama 'Sex' picked up multiple awards from the independent juries at the 74th Berlinale..

BERLINALE 2024 Awards :: Mati Diop’s Dahomey bags the Golden Bear
The 74th Berlinale (15-25 February) was brought to a close tonight by the traditional awards ceremony at the Berlinale Palast, which saw the triumph of Mati Diop’s Dahomey, the winner of this year’s Golden Bear..

BERLINALE 2024 :: Competition Review: Architecton
Several thousand years of architectural history are woven together in Kossakovsky's visionary blockbuster, which almost without dialogue - but with images as sharp as flint and a soundtrack as massive as a pillow - is a total cinematic..

BERLINALE 2024 :: Review: Afterwar
An immersive and uncategorisable film, shot over a period of 15 years, was made in close collaboration with its four Kosovar protagonists. A dark chapter in modern European history draws to a close. Haunted by memories of the past and caught in an uncertain state of limbo..

BERLINALE 2024 Competition :: Review: My Favourite Cake
All eyes were on writer-directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha – or, rather, their absence – at the world premiere of their new film, My Favourite Cake, which has just made its debut in the Competition section of..

NAVALNY (2022) :: Navalny’s Plight in a Russian Prison Highlighted
The fact that this documentary movie involves one of the most brazen incidents of state sponsored assassination in memory means this is a unique document of a very singular man. After almost being poisoned to death in 2020..

CPH:DOX 2024 :: The line-up of the 2024 CPH:DOX competitions
CPH:DOX unveils the films nominated across all six award categories. The selection features 66 films in competition, among which 47 are world premieres, 17 international premieres and 2 European premieres..

BERLINALE 2024 :: ‘My Favourite Cake’ Directors Deliver Powerful Message From Iran
‘My Favourite Cake’ Directors Deliver Powerful Message From Iran After Authorities Banned Travel to Berlinale: ‘Like Parents Forbidden From Looking at Their Newborn Child’..

Farshad Hashemi :: Director of 'Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others' :: Interview
“I can’t predict the future, but I know this is just the beginning”. The winner of Göteborg’s Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award plays with fact and fiction in his debut film..

BERLINALE 2024 :: EXCLUSIVE :: Trailer for Berlinale Panorama entry 'My Stolen Planet'
The German-Iranian co-production is a diary-style narrative by Farahnaz Sharifi, from her childhood to the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising..

Farshad Hashemi's film wins The Ingmar Bergman Debut Award at Goteborg Film Festival
The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award goes to Farshad Hashemi's feature debut 'Me, Maryam, The Children And 26 Others'. The prize consists of a stay at The Bergman Estate on..

‘Eternal’ :: Rotterdam Review :: A soulful exploration of love and regret
How can you commit to the future when life on earth seems so finite? It is a question that haunts the central character in writer/director Ulaa Salim’s admirably offbeat romance Eternal..

IFFR 2024 Tiger Competition :: 'Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others'
Farshad Hashemi's feature debut, Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others, which has just world-premiered in IFFR's Tiger Competition, will inevitably inspire associations with Iranian cinema's tradition of intertwining..

Berlinale Calls for Iran to Allow Directors to Attend Festival
The Berlin Film Festival has called on Iran to allow directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha to leave the country to attend the world premiere of their new film My Favorite Cake..

"My Favourite Cake" :: to premiere in the Berlinale Competition
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s My Favourite Cake to premiere in the Berlinale Competition. Last year, the pair were banned from travelling in relation to their film..

Asghar Farhadi, Iranian filmmaker :: “I saw how powerful women are”
In a new interview with french newspaper Le Monde, Farhadi reveals he won't be making any new films in Iran, for the time being, as an act of resistance against the regime..

IPADOC 2024 :: Review :: Son of the Mullah
Nahid Persson pays tribute to Rouhollah Zam, an exiled Iranian activist and journalist with a tragic fate, with a moving film about the pursuit of regime opponents. “I had a beautiful life before I left Iran”..

‘Gunda’ :: Berlin Review :: Intensely moving and quite genuinely unique
Anyone who never thought they could imagine the feelings of an animal will have their mind changed here. Viktor Kossakovsky’s extraordinary film is every bit as resonant as Bresson’s ’Balthazar’ or Bela Tarr’s ’Turin Horse’..

BERLINALE 2024 :: “Sons” by Gustav Möller :: Selected for main Competition
BERLIN. “The Guilty” director Gustav Möller's prison drama “Sons” will be celebrating the World premiere in the International Competition strand of the Berlinale as the first Danish-language film in eight years..

BERLINALE 2024 Competition :: Encounters
The Berlinale (15-25 February) has announced the full line-ups of its Competition and Encounters sections. Twenty films will vie for the Golden and Silver Bears, including two debut features..

La chimera :: A fairy tale with a social conscience and plenty of humor
Alice Rohrwacher's film is clever, ambitious, and funny throughout, but it also works as an intelligent meditation on our attitudes toward life, love, and death. Get used to her name, because she will be sticking around well after..

Iran: PEN International Calls for investigation over Baktash Abtin’s tragic death
PEN International holds the Iranian authorities fully responsible for the death of the prominent writer, poet, and filmmaker Baktash Abtin and calls for an urgent investigation into..

GOLDEN GLOBES 2024 :: 'Anatomy of a Fall' wins two Golden Globes
Justine Triet’s film shone bright at the ceremony, at which the main winners were Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, which also boast European participation..

Tótem :: A dazzling, vibrant child’s-eye view of jubilation and tragedy
Lila Avilés’s latest film is filtered largely through the perspective of a seven-year-old girl who experiences the ups and downs of life in a day with her big and beautiful family.. A co-production between Mexico, Denmark and..

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Screening in LA
Cold Sweat (Aragh-e Sard) review
Intelligently written, well performed and emotionally rewarding

By World Cinema Reports' Editors, CWB
on 06/06/2019 CinéEqual

A piercing drama of inequality. --Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

Intelligently written, well performed and emotionally rewarding. --Richard Kuipers, Variety

Like many Iranian films of late, this one depicts a society plighted by inertia and helplessness, especially for women treated as less than equal by the law. Even for a star athlete — and one has brought honor to her country — victory is forever out of reach.

Cold Sweat is an Iranian film directed by Soheil Beiraghi that will be screened in Los Angeles for two nights, June 9th and June 13th. For more information please check the Facebook page of the film.

I had the opportunity of watching Cold Sweat and I enjoyed the film with it's critical look into the subject of treating women as a property of the husband and deeply address this matter.

Cold Sweat has a powerful structure and engages your mind to its subject even after leaving the theater. Baran Kosari and Amir Jadidi both offer great performances and Soheil Beiraghi, Cold Sweat director, will be on our watch list for his future films. I strongly recommend Cold Sweat to audiences.

The following is a review of Cold Sweat published in Hollywood Reporter, Cinema Without Borders & CineEqual will post two more reviews of the film after its screening in LA.
(Bijan Tehrani)

In the heatedly performed drama Cold Sweat (Araghe Sard), a professional female soccer player finds herself stranded at home as her team takes off to Malaysia for the Asia Cup finals. The reason she’s left behind is due to a simple and completely lopsided facet of Iranian civil law: A woman needs permission from her husband in order to leave the country. If he says no, she’s stuck.

And so, in writer-director Soheil Beiraghi’s quietly gripping second feature, Afrooz (Baran Kosari), the captain of Iran’s national futsal squad — futsal is a form of indoor soccer that’s played on a handball court — winds up being shut out of the big game by her bitter, about-to-be-former husband, Yaser (Amir Jadidi), who takes revenge on his wife’s emancipated ways by doing the only thing in his power to keep her around.

It’s a setup worthy of Asghar Farhadi — while also reminiscent of Jafar Panahi’s 2006 film Offside, which focused on female soccer fans in Tehran — and Soheil Beiraghi uses it to explore a highly inequitable aspect of Iranian society, depicting Afrooz’s gradual unraveling as she goes from star player to powerless wife who’s forced to abide by the whims of the men in charge.

Intimately told, with the camera mostly glued to lead Kosari’s frustrated face, Cold Sweat was recently released in France and could see wider exposure abroad after festival bows in Stockholm and Tokyo.

An energetic opening showcases Afrooz’s skills on the futsal court, where she leads Iran’s national team to a comeback victory that will take them to the finals. But just when she’s about to board the plane for the big game in Malaysia, immigration officials tell her that she can’t leave Iranian soil unless her husband allows her to.

Thus begins Afrooz’s long and painful attempt to make it out in time, with Yaser, who hosts a serenely pious daytime TV show, blocking her at every turn. Why he’s doing this is not entirely clear at first (the couple has already been separated for a year), although one initially suspects he may be taking revenge on the fact that Afrooz has become close to a fellow teammate (Hoda Zelnolabedin), with whom she now lives.

But as Soheil Beiraghi follows Afrooz trying to maneuver Iran’s draconian legal system, where at best she can hope to obtain a divorce that will set her free, Cold Sweat ultimately shows that what bothers Yaser most is his wife’s emancipation — the fact that, instead of sitting at home and making dinner every night, Afrooz chose to pursue a career and a passion, and did so in a competitive sport that’s often reserved for men.

You can’t help but feel for Afrooz as she keeps getting knocked down by the powers-that-be (this includes her wet blanket of a husband), even though she can also be irascible at times, refusing to make compromises and hiring a lawyer (Lelli Rashidi), who tries to turn her predicament into an international affair.

The veteran Kosari, who was in Abbas Kiarostami’s Shirin and short film from To Each His Own Cinema, is a ball of energy in a role where she’s constantly tries to contain her character’s rage — particularly in an explosive sequence reminiscent of A Separation, where the bickering couple appears before an unseen judge.

Yet in the end, Cold Sweat reveals how much Afrooz may be fighting a losing battle: She’s a powerhouse in futsal, but in real life, her anger and audacity can only take her so far.

Like many Iranian films of late, this one depicts a society plighted by inertia and helplessness, especially for women treated as less than equal by the law. Even for a star athlete — and one has brought honor to her country — victory is forever out of reach.

Cast: Baran Kosari, Amir Jadidi, Sahar Dowlatshahi, Lelli Rashidi, Hoda Zelnolabedin
Director-screenwriter: Soheil Beiraghi

Producers: Soheil Beiraghi, Medhi Davari
Director of photography: Farshad Mohammadi
Production designer: Soheil Beiraghi
Editors: Bahram Dehghani, Mohammad Najarian
Composer: Karen Homayoonfar

By Jordan Mintzer for Hollywood Reporter

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