TEHRAN – Ten films from Iran are present at the 13th Asian Film Festival Barcelona (AFFBCN), which kicked off on October 29 in Barcelona, Spain.

The Iranian films at the event include “3 Days, 3 Murders” directed by Masoud Amini Tirani, “Summertime” by Mahmoud Kalari, “Cold Sigh” by Nahid Azizi Sedigh, “In the Arms of the Tree” by Babak Khajehpasha, “6 AM” by Mehran Modiri, “For Love” by Amir-Hossein Saghafi, “Numb” by Amir Toodehroosta, “For Rana” by Iman Yazdi, “Grand Me” by Atiye Zare Arandi, and “Fear and Trembling” co-directed by Manijeh Hekmat and Faeze Azizkhani, ISNA reported.

In “3 Days, 3 Murders,” a group of actors decides to spend three consecutive days and nights in a house where three consecutive murders took place many years ago and remained hidden for five years. What do they imagine they would do if they were the original residents?

“Summertime” depicts cousins Atta and Masi, who are adapted to the absence of their parents since moving in with their grandmother. Atta’s father was in prison, and Masi’s father had passed away. When their aunt, Marzi, accused Masi’s brother of stealing her jewels and forced Atta to identify him as the thief, their lives were thrown into turmoil. Years later, a 77-year-old Atta returns to Iran to visit his old home, evoking indelible childhood memories filled with love, admiration, and betrayal.

In “Cold Sigh,” Baha, a young man from a border town, learns that his father, Bahram, has been released from prison after 20 years. Bahram killed his wife, Baha’s mother, having accused her of cheating on him. Baha, who has never coped with this and is still full of anger and resentment, decides to take to the road to bring his father back to prison himself.

“In the Arms of the Tree” shows Kimia and Farid, who are seeking a divorce due to the wife’s mysterious illness. The divorce implies each parent taking one of their sons to live with them, but 11-year-old Taha and his five-year-old brother Alisan are inseparable. The boys’ strong bond and friendship serve as a beacon of hope amid the tumult, highlighting the innocence of childhood and the power of familial love in the face of adversity.

In “6 AM,” Sarah is leaving Tehran for three years to study for her doctorate in Canada. Her flight is at 6 a.m. After an emotionally fraught final dinner with her family, she heads to an impromptu farewell party at her friend Farida’s apartment, intending to go straight to the airport afterward. However, when the morality police unexpectedly raid the gathering, Sarah is seized with terror that they will all be arrested – and she, of course, will miss her plane.

“For Love” is about a young woman who finds herself in a cold, snowy town after her friend leaves her. She tries to rediscover her lost love and mend the broken bond. A rarefied tale that follows the trajectory of an elusive figure, beyond which the city dissolves and an intimate universe opens up.

In “Numb,” the six-year-old Roham plays the often-silent witness to the actions unfurling around him at pre-school. As his curiosity grows, the complicated real lives of the other pupils start to unravel. As Roham’s relationships develop with the class bully and quiet Rana, he stumbles across disturbing secrets that split open his innocent world.

“For Rana” centers around Aref, who has been a motocross stunt driver for many years, working in the same position with a circus company on the outskirts of Tehran. His wife Soudabeh and his daughter Rana support him, even though they struggle financially. However, as Rana falls into a coma and has to have a heart transplant as soon as possible, her parents are desperate to find a donor in time to save the life of their daughter. 

In “Grand Me,” a young girl named Melina, with divorced parents, lives with her grandparents. Celebrating her 9th birthday, Melina legally comes of age in Iranian society, allowing her to take her custody case to court to get the legal permission to live with her mother. Melina is growing up much too fast, having to deal with these adult issues. As she starts to realize her mother doesn’t want to take her in, Melina decides not to bring her case to court, knowing it won’t solve her problems. Instead, she holds her own trail of her mother in an intimate but hard confrontation.

“Fear and Trembling” tells the story of Manzar, a woman set in her rigid ways and beliefs, who has been ostracized by her family and now ekes out a lonely existence. One day, she suddenly receives a call from her sister: her niece has been arrested. Despite implorations from her family, Manzar sticks to her fundamentalist beliefs – her niece ought to be punished. Finding herself all alone in a changing world and increasingly racked by fear and guilt, Manzar begins to pray for heavenly deliverance.

The program of this year’s Asian Film Festival Barcelona (AFFBCN) aims to be as representative as possible, from Iran to New Zealand, of the most recent experimental and independent cinema from the Asian continent.

The festival has brought together around 100 films, productions that respond both to the interest of an audience familiar with Asian filmmaking and those who wish to begin to know what a not-so-new cinema transmits to us, whose diversity responds preferably to the different narratives that it exhibits. 

The exoticism that has tended to be attributed to these productions in the West has been replaced by the contribution they have made and continue to make to the cultural construction of an identity that is inseparable from belonging to the territory.

One of the festival’s goals is to explore ‘strange’ or ‘foreign’ cinema, as well as to stimulate interest in discovery. Hence, in some cases, the program seeks to be inclusive, not with the intention of covering more titles each year, but to show not only recognized authors who already have supporters, but also lesser-known authors. 

The festival maintains its structure of six sections in competition: Official Section, Official Panorama, Discoveries, NETPAC, Special Section, and New Perspectives.

It covers a very wide geographical area, ranging from Iran and Central Asia, a region that includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, in addition to Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, also covering Southeast Asia with China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, and the Asia Pacific with Australia and New Zealand.

The 13th edition of the AFFBCN will run until November 9.

SS/SAB