TEHRAN – The 20th edition of the Yari Iranian Film Festival in the Swedish capital of Stockholm will be inaugurated Sunday with the opening message of stage and screen actor Ali Nasirian.

Four Iranian cineastes, Nosrat Karimi, Khosro Sinai, Hassan Barijani and Kambuzia Partovi, who had collaborated in previous editions of the festival and have passed away last year, will be commemorated on the opening day of the event on Sunday.

The Yari Film Festival will go totally online this year. The first day will begin with the screening of one feature and four short films, and will continue with nine more films and nine shorts and documentaries in the coming days.

Among the lineup are “Nabat”, a feature by Pegah Arzi. The film is about Saeed, a middle-aged man who lives a quiet life with his daughter, until a woman enters their lives.

The short films include “Love Can Not Be Quarantined” by Jinus Pedram.

The film is about Hedayat, a taxi driver in Tehran, and his wife Sarah, who teaches online due to COVID-19. Sarah has just undergone a kidney transplant and her husband does not go home to avoid placing Sarah’s life at risk. Instead, he quarantines himself in the car for a while until the COVID-19 situation clears up. Sarah is dissatisfied with this arrangement and cannot stand being alone, so she convinces him to come home.

“The Blue Bed” by Alireza Kazemipur narrates the story of a middle-aged woman named Zahra who picks a girl named Negar on the street and insists on taking her home, leaving Negar in doubt about the middle-aged woman’s motivation.

Love is everything for Fahimeh, and in her every single breath, but she is still lonely and she is so hopeful in the short “50 Years Love” by Negar Vand.

The festival is organized every year by Yari, an Uppsala-based charity organization that helps street children in Iran to go to school and also raises funds for the construction of schools and libraries for children.

Photo: Actor Ali Nasirian in an undated photo. (Iran Theater)

RM/YAW