TEHRAN – The 13th Cinéma Vérité, Iran’s major international documentary film festival, announced its lineup for the national competition on Saturday.

Nineteen films will be competing in the festival, which will take place at Tehran’s Charsu Cineplex from December 9 to 16.

“It Is Winter” directed by Mehrdad Zahedian is among the highlights of the lineup. The film, which is about Tehran’s Lalezar Street, which was regarded as Iran’s Broadway and cradle of modernism during the 1950s and 1960s, won the award for best feature documentary during the 21st Iran Cinema Celebration in August.

Reza Farahmand’s acclaimed documentary “Copper Notes of a Dream” will be also screened in the national competition.

The film is about a ten-year-old Palestinian refugee, Malook, who lives in Jarmuk, a suburb of Damascus in Syria, which was ruined during the war with ISIS. 

Malook dreams of becoming a singer. Together with his older sister Ghofran, he is planning to organize a concert with professional musicians. 

To earn money for the concert, Malook and some friends pull the copper wires out of the walls of vacant buildings that are riddled with bullets and rockets, and write apologies for their theft on the walls, in hope the people who have fled will understand, if they ever return.

“The Forbidden Strings”, a co-production of Afghanistan, Iran and Qatar by Afghan director Hassan Nuri, has been selected to be screened in this category.

The documentary tells the story of Akbar, Suri, Mohammed and Hakim, young Afghan immigrants in Iran who have formed a rock band. They dream of performing live in a concert in their homeland. 

The lineup also includes Sam Kalantari’s documentary “No Place for Angels” about the national Iranian women’s hockey team for the first time.

“Marriage Project” co-directed by Hesam Eslami and Atieh Attarzadeh, “Lunar Eclipse” by Mohsen Ostadali, “The Thin Red Line” by Farzad Khoshdast and “Scenes from a Separation” by Vahid Sedaqat are among the films.

Photo:   “The Forbidden Strings” by Hassan Nuri.

MMS/YAW