TEHRAN – Three movies by Iranian filmmakers will be screened at the 33rd Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“A Hero” by Asghar Farhadi, “Ballad of a White Cow” by Behtash Sanaeiha and Maryam Moqaddam, and “Radiograph of a Family” by Firuzeh Khosravani will compete in the various categories of the festival, which take place from January 6 to 17, 2022 in Palm Springs, California.

“A Hero”, the winner of the Grand Prix (ex aequo) at Cannes 2021, also made the list of eligible films for the 94th Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.

The film follows Rahim, who is in prison because he was unable to pay a debt. During a two-day leave of absence from prison, he attempts to have his creditor withdraw his complaint over part of the sum owed. But things don’t go as planned.

“Ballad of a White Cow”, a co-production between Iran and France, Mina, a woman whose life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband Babak was innocent of the crime for which he was executed. 

The authorities apologize for the mistake and offer the prospect of financial compensation. Mina starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter’s sake. Just as her money is running out, a stranger named Reza knocks at her door, saying he has come to repay a debt he owed to Babak. Mina is guarded at first, but increasingly lets Reza into her life, unaware of the secret that ties them to one another.

The film has previously won awards at several festivals, including the Pilar Miró’ Prize for the best new director at the SEMINCI – Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain and the award for best narrative feature at the Der Neue Heimatfilm Festival in Austria.

In “Radiograph of a Family”, Co-produced by Iran, Switzerland and Norway, Khosrovani investigates her parents’ unusual marriage in this documentary steeped in bittersweet history. Hossein, a radiologist, is secular and sophisticated, while his young bride Tayi is a devout Muslim, shocked by her new husband’s Western tastes. 

Khosrovani creates a poetic portrait of a fraught but loving relationship set against 1960s Switzerland and revolutionary-era Iran using family photos, other archival materials, recreated and imagined dialogue, and the geographical dimensions of her childhood home.

The film awards will be held on January 6 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Photo: Maryam Moqaddam acts in a scene from “Ballad of a White Cow” directed by Behtash Sanaeiha and her.

MMS/YAW