TEHRAN – Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya is presiding over the international jury of the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala, which is currently underway in the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram. 

Filmmakers Khairy Beshara from Egypt, Amir Karakulov from Kazakhstan and Nagraj Manjule and Rajiv Menon, both from India, are the other members of the jury.

Motamed-Arya, who has played in over 70 films, is famous for her roles in such acclaimed movies as “The Blue-Veiled” and “Gilaneh”.

She has been honored with a Crystal Simorgh for best actress four times at Iran’s Fajr Film Festival and also has won awards at over 80 international events.

Acclaimed Iranian dramas “Castle of Dreams” by Reza Mirkarimi, “Just 6.5” by Saeid Rustai and “The Warden” by Nima Javidi are competing in the World Cinema section of the Kerala festival. 

“Castle of Dreams” is about two young children whose mother has just died, and their father, Jalal, after long years of absence, returns to sort things out, but he does not want to take the children with him.

“Just 6.5” is about a police squad under the leadership of Samad who has been assigned to arrest Nasser Khakzad, a major drug trafficker in Tehran.

“The Warden” tells the story of an Iranian prison warden who is assigned to transfer prisoners to a new building during the 1960s.

“Hava, Maryam, Ayesha”, a co-production between Iran and Afghanistan by Afghan director Sahra Karimi is also competing in this section.

The film is about three pregnant Afghan women from different social backgrounds living in Kabul, each of whom is facing a big challenge in her life and must solve her problem by herself for the first time.

The International Film Festival of Kerala will run until December 13.

Photo: Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya in an undated photo.

ABU/MMS/YAW