TEHRAN – A documentary tracing a tragedy that occurred in 1987 after an Iraqi missile attack on two adjacent schools in Iran has recently been made by an Iranian filmmaker.

68 schoolchildren were killed at the schools located in Borujerd, the hometown of director Kaveh Haddadi, whose 26-minute documentary “Every Thing Is More Beautiful From Above” is competing in the 39th Tehran International Short Film Festival underway at the Mellat Cineplex.

Two survivors of the attacks, mothers of several of the victims and a teacher appear in the documentary, elaborating on the tragedy.

“Eyewitnesses will never forget such a disaster,” Haddadi told the Persian service of MNA and added, “The eyewitnesses in the film are still under the harmful effects of the incidents.”

“One of the students says that every night in bed, he still is haunted by the memory of the event and recalls the charred and mangled remains of his classmates,” he explained.

Haddadi has deliberately cut out scenes of emotion from those people appearing in the film.

“The film has many powerful and bitter scenes to show, therefore I removed the scenes when the interviewees wept as a result of recalling the bitter memories,” he said.

“There are few instances of such an attack on a school in the world that claims the lives of 68 students, however, the historical disaster has never been acknowledged. Many people living in this city are even unaware of the catastrophic incident, therefore I wanted to turn the spotlight on the event,” he noted.

“Between the lines, this film intends to highlight the effects of wars on children and shows that children are the main victims of wars. Without any clear conceptions about wars, children fall victim to wars, political conflicts and unrest across the world; children have even fallen victim to the unrest that has hit our country over the past month,” he said.

Haddadi lamented the lack of any reaction from international organizations to the Iraqi attack on the Iranian schools in Borujerd.

However, he noted that at present, such events may provoke immediate reactions from the organizations.

Movies from 35 countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Italy, India, Chile and Japan, are competing in the Oscar-qualifying Tehran short film festival, which will be running until October 24.

Photo: Kaveh Haddadi, director of the short documentary “Every Thing Is More Beautiful From Above”, in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW