TEHRAN – Seven movies by Iranian filmmakers will be screened at the 16th Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Market.

“The Kites” directed by Seyyed Payam Hosseini and “Nightly Whispers” by Omid Abdollahi have been selected to be showcased in the international competition of the festival, which will take place in Sapporo, Japan from October 13 to November 30.

“The Kites” tells the story of a girl whose kite flies away along the Iraqi-Iranian border of Kurdistan. She calls three boys for help. However, the children are not only separated by a river, but also by the explosive legacies of past wars.

“Nightly Whispers” is about a single dad whose daughter is in a relationship with an unknown guy. The girl refuses to introduce the guy to his father but after all they meet and at that point the father encounters something awkward and intolerable.

The documentary “Three Meters and a Few Centimeters” by Mostafa Salehinejad will be screened in the Corona, COVID-19 Program.

In an Iranian city, the coronavirus has caused many deaths. According to the obligations of their religion, when someone dies, a person who is familiar with the requirements of the religion washes the body by hand so that he can go to the hereafter clean. But now the people of this city are facing a difficult challenge to wash the corpses that have died from COVID-19, because few people are willing to touch these corpses.

“I Won’t Remain Alone” by Yaser Talebi is the sole Iranian movie competing in the documentary category.

The winner of the best documentary award at the Parnu International Documentary and Science Film Festival in Estonia, follows Sorayya and Seyed Jalal, a poor, elderly couple residing in a remote village in Northern Iran. Filmed over the course of 5 years, the film paints pictures of forgiveness, love, humanity and immortality.

“Identibye” by Sajjad Shahhatami will be competing in the experimental films section.

This movie narrates the life of a person who is experiencing the most critical situation in his life, and has to make only one choice.

“Faranak” by Mehrnush Alia will be screened in the fiction category.

A new Uber driver receives a request to deliver a golden retriever named Faranak. Knowing too well that having a dog in the car is against the Iranian law, he is reluctant to accept the ride, but is obliged after learning that the dog belongs to a blind man.

Photo: A poster for “Three Meters and a Few Centimeters” by Mostafa Salehinejad. 

MMS/YAW