TEHRAN – The 20th Dhaka International Film Festival will be screening 34 movies by Iranian filmmakers.

In the Asian Film Competition, five films, including the acclaimed dramas “Walnut Tree” by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian and “Botox” by Kaveh Mazaheri, will be screened at the festival, which will take place in the Bangladeshi capital from January 15 to 23.

“Walnut Tree” is based on true events that took place in 1987. Sardasht, a Kurdish city on the Iran-Iraq border, along with several villages in the surrounding areas had been attacked with chemical weapons by Iraqi forces. Qader, a villager from the area and his pregnant wife, as well as his three young children, are exposed to the chemicals and suffer injuries. The situation in the village and surrounding cities is chaotic. Qader must singlehandedly try to keep his family alive.

A co-production between Iran and Canada, “Botox” is about sisters Akram and Azar. Both lie about their brother’s disappearance, telling everyone he fled to Germany. Day after day, the lie becomes bigger and more unmanageable, leading everyone to a dark and mysterious destiny.

“Fathers” by Salem Salavati, “A Bumpy Story” by Kamal Tabrizi, and “On the Zero Line”, a co-production of Iran, Singapore and Japan directed by Mehrdad Ghaffarzadeh and Yoshimasa Jimbo, will also be screened in this category.

Seven films by the Iranian filmmakers will compete in the Cinema of the World category.

The films include “Major” by Ehsan Abdipur, “Ballad of Bahram” by Farshid Qolipur, “Children of the Night” by Behruz Nuranipur, “Gisoum” by Navid Behtoi, “The Mirror Man” by Puyan Kazemi, “The Great Leap” Karim Lakzadeh and “The Tortoise & the Snail” by Reza Hemasi.

The feature films “Lady of the City” by Maryam Bahrololumi and “Atabai” by Niki Karimi, and the short movies “Here Yet Absent” by Fariba Chupannejad and “Maryam’s House” by Mahbub Molai will be screened in the Women Filmmakers Section.

The Spiritual Section features seven movies by Iranian filmmakers, while the Children’s Film Session will screen five movies from Iran. 

Six Iranian films have also been selected to be screened in the Short & Independent Film Section.

Photo: “Walnut Tree” directed by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian.

MMS/YAW