TEHRAN – Mohsen Tanabandeh, star of the Iranian dark comedy “World War III”, received a nomination at the 16th edition of the Asian Film Awards as the organizers announced nominees on Saturday.

In this film directed by Hooman Seyyedi, Tanabandeh portrays Shakib, a homeless day laborer who never got over the loss of his wife and son in an earthquake years ago.

Over the last couple of years, he has developed a relationship with a deaf and mute woman, Ladan. The construction site on which he works today turns out to be the set for a film about the atrocities committed by Hitler during WWII. Against all odds, he is given a movie role, a house and a chance at being somebody. When Ladan learns about this, she comes to his workplace begging for help. Shakib’s scheme to hide her goes tragically wrong and threatens to ruin his newfound status and what seemed to be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Tanabandeh won the Orizzonti award for best actor at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and was picked as best actor at the Los Angeles Asian World Film Festival.

“World War III” was Iran’s submission to the international feature award at the 2023 Oscars, but it failed to enter the race after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the international feature film shortlist in December.

At the Asian Film Awards, Tanabandeh is competing with Park Hae-il in “Decision to Leave” from South Korea, Nishijima Hidetoshi in “Drive My Car” from Japan, Suzuki Ryohei in “Egoist” from Japan, Zhang Yi in “Home Coming” from China and Tony Leung Chiu Wai in “Where the Wind Blows” from Hong Kong.

The nominees in the best film category are “Decision to Leave”, “Drive My Car”, “Poet” from Kazakhstan, “Ponniyin Selvan: Part I” from India and “When the Waves Are Gone”, a co-production by the Philippines, France, Portugal and Denmark.

The Asian Film Awards will be held on March 12 in Hong Kong. The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA) was founded by Busan, Hong Kong, and Tokyo international film festivals.

Photo: Mohsen Tanabandeh acts in a scene from “World War III”.

MMS/YAW