TEHRAN – Ten films from renowned Iranian directors, including Abbas Kiarostami, will be reviewed at the 40th Fajr Film Festival as the organizers announced the lineup for the Classics Preserved section on Saturday.

The festival, which is Iran’s most important film event, will take place from February 1 to 11 in Tehran.

“Where Is the Friend’s House”, Kiarostami’s 1987 movie, is one of the classics.

It tells the story of Ahmed, an 8-year-old boy who has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad’s notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. Determinedly, the conscientious boy sets out to find Mohammad’s home in the neighboring village.

The film received four nominations at the Fajr in 1987 and the award for best director and special jury award.

The 1989 Locarno International Film Festival awarded Kiarostami with Golden Leopard and Bronze Leopard for this film.

The lineup also features director Majid Majidi’s 1999 Oscar-nominated film “Children of Heaven”.

It is about a boy who loses his sister’s pair of shoes. He goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he cannot, he tries a new way to “win” a new pair.

The film garnered awards at the Fajr festival in four categories, including best film and best director.

Another highlight of the lineup is “The Cow”, a forerunner of the Iranian New Wave cinema directed by Dariush Mehrjui in 1969.

The film follows Masht Hassan, who owns the only cow in a remote and desolate village. While he is away, his cow, whom he treats as his own child, dies. Knowing the relationship between Masht Hassan and his cow, the villagers hastily dispose of the corpse, and when Masht Hassan returns, they tell him that his cow ran away. Devastated by the news, Masht Hassan starts to spend all his time in the barn eating hay and slowly begins to believe that he has become the cow.

Earlier in the 2016 Fajr festival, the restored edition of the movie was also screened.
 
In the Classics Preserved section, the festival will also review “The Eagles” (1985) by Samuel Khachikian, “Frosty Roads” (1985) by Masud Jafari Jozani, “Manuscripts” (1986) by Mehrzad Minui, “Captain Khorshid” (1987) by Nasser Taqvai, “The Scout” (1989) by Ebrahim Hatamikia, “The Last Act” (1991) by Varuj Karim-Masihi and “The Need” (1992) by Alireza Davudnejad.

Photo: A poster for the Classics Preserved section of the 40th Fajr Film Festival.

MMS/YAW