TEHRAN – Iranian director Abbas Rafei’s “Oblivion Season” will be competing in the 16th edition of the Asiatica Film Mediale Festival, an Italian festival focusing on Asian cinema, which will be held in Rome from November 20 to 28.

A selection of feature films, documentaries and short films from Indonesia, Philippines, China, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Iran and Lebanon will go on screen, organizers announced on the website.

Wu Hai-Tao, a New York City-based freelance director and cinematographer, is the guest of honor at the Italian festival this year.

The focus of the festival is dedicated to films from South Korea by prominent filmmakers including Park-Chan Wook, Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong.

“Oblivion Season” has won several international awards, including the best film award at the Universal Film Festival in October. The film also brought Sareh Bayat the award for best actress.

“Oblivion Season” is about a woman who starts a new life by marrying her lover but leaving the shadow of her dark past turns out not to be as easy as it had seemed beforehand. Now she finds herself the prisoner of her lover and in order to earn her freedom she must fight with the male-dominated society.

The film had already won several awards in international film festivals. It won the best film award at the Brasov International Film Festival and Market in the Romanian city last week.

It also won awards in several categories including best film at the Third Annual Rahway International Film Festival in northeastern New Jersey in early September.


Photo: Sareh Bayat acting in a scene from “Oblivion Season”

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