TEHRAN – The 40th edition of the Fajr Film Festival announced on Sunday the lineups for the documentary and short film competitions.

Nine documentary films and ten shorts will be competing in the festival, which will take place in Tehran from February 1 to 11.

“No One Is Waiting for You” by Mohsen Eslamzadeh is a highlight of the documentary competition.

The film is about Sepideh Alizadeh, the director of a center for homeless women in southern Tehran, and her assistant Mona who once was one of the women supported by the center. Now Mona and Sepideh want to track her two children she left 28 years ago, however, they don’t have any trace of them.   

Another entry to the documentary competition is “That Man Came by Bus” by Nima Mahdian.

Produced at the Documentary and Experimental Film Center, the doc is a study of the 100-year-long history of public transit by bus in Tehran.

Directed by Kamran Jahedi, “My Brother’s Gun” is also among the documentaries.

The film is about Nosrat Khodayari, also known as “Sister Basiti”, who refused to leave her hometown Gilane Gharb in 1980 when the Iraqi forces invaded the town. She stayed beside all men fighting the invaders until the end of the war in 1988.

The festival also features “Tonight’s Homework” by Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Nematollahi.

The directors came to realize that homework is no longer a significant issue for students, parents and teachers, since it has been replaced by greater and more significant challenges, such as social class differences and their effect on students’ learning interests, the disregard of parents in relation to their children’s education, a lack of planning by the education and development system to promote enthusiasm in students, and many other issues.

Ten movies will be screened in the short competition.

“Deer” directed by Hadi Babaifar is one of the entries.

In quiet, poetic images of snow-covered, rural Iran, the film tells the story of a little boy who has to watch helplessly while his sick brother struggles to remain alive. When his parents take him away to stay with relatives, Ehsan sets off for home again through the snowy night, to defend his brother against the angel of death.

Photo: A poster for the documentary film “My Brother’s Gun”.

MMS/YAW