TEHRAN – “Rona, Azim’s Mother”, a co-production between Afghanistan and Iran, has been submitted to the 91st Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Thursday.

The Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi are the director and producer of the movie, whose story is set in Tehran.

Starring Iranian actors Mohsen Tanabandeh and Mojtaba Pirzadeh, the film is about Azim, an Afghan refugee who works as a janitor in Tehran. While helping his mother and his brother’s family plan to smuggle themselves into Germany, he feels betrayed by his brother when he abandons their mother. Nonetheless, Azim takes good care of his mother. One day, she ends up hospitalized in critical condition, and the only way to save her is through a kidney transplant. However, it is impossible for a foreigner to get a donor in Iranian society, so Azim tries to donate his kidney, but the doctor has him detained.

“Rona, Azim’s Mother” will have its world premiere today during the 23rd Busan International Film Festival, which is currently underway in the South Korean city. 

The Mahmudi brothers’ “Parting”, which was also an Afghan-Iranian joint production about love and migration, was submitted by Afghanistan to the 89th Annual Academy Awards to represent the country in the best foreign language film category at the 2017 Oscars.

Photo: Mohsen Tanabandeh acts in a scene from “Rona, Azim’s Mother” directed by Jamshid Mahmudi.

MMS/YAW