TEHRAN – Three Iranian filmmakers will be competing in the London Short Film Festival.

“Barter” by Ziba Karamali and Emad Arad, “The Sea” by Sahra Ramezanian and “I Have Sinned a Rapturous Sin” by Maryam Tafakory will be screened in different sections of the festival, which will take place in London from January 14 to 23.

“Barter” has been selected to be screened in the New Shorts: Disconnected Conversations category.

“Barter” is about Parsa, a 13-year-old boy who is trying to hide a secret from his father. The film depicts a dramatic situation in a family, and how people change when their interests are at stake.

“The Sea” will compete in the New Shorts: Lo-Budget Mayhem section. In this movie, some guys are planning to go on a trip but…

“I Have Sinned a Rapturous Sin” has been selected for the F(r)ictions section. 

What cures women of sexual promiscuity? Eating lettuce, of course, at least according to one clergyman advising women on how to control their lust, as seen in Tafakkori’s film.

Tafakkori also competes in the UK Competition: Coloring Outside the Lines with “Irani Bag”.

Using excerpts of films produced between 1990 and 2018, “Irani Bag” is a split-screen video essay questioning the innocence of bags in Iranian cinema.

Founded in 2003, the London Short Film Festival (LSFF) is a BAFTA-qualifying, internationally regarded independent short film festival.

Each January, the LSFF hosts ten days of short form, conversation and multidisciplinary curation. It presents between 250-500 British and international films in each edition, collaboratively programmed down from 5000+ open submissions, alongside special events and an industrious offering of workshops, panels and discussion for filmmakers and workers.

The LSFF exists to spotlight a multiplicity of filmmakers, visual artists and creatives across intersections and with a commitment to peripheral voices. The festival’s programming seeks to situate the contemporary in dialogue with its history and the world at large.

Photo: “The Sea” directed by Sahra Ramezanian. (Photo by Mojtaba Rohamian)

MMS/YAW