TEHRAN – Four Iranian movies will be competing in the 41st Istanbul Film Festival, the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey.

“Hit the Road”, “Tonight’s Homework”, “Zalava” and “Until Tomorrow” will be screened in the different categories of the event, which will take place from April 8 to 19.

Directed by Panah Panahi, “Hit the Road” will be screened in the Young Masters section.

A chaotic, tender family is on a road trip across a rugged landscape, but to where? In the back seat, dad has a broken leg, but is it really broken? Mom tries to laugh when she’s not holding back tears. The kids keep exploding into choreographed car karaoke. All of them are fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others’ nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet. They have left Tehran for the north, towards the Turkish border, but it is as if they left life itself behind.

“Tonight’s Homework” has been chosen to be screened in the Documentary Time category.

Abbas Kiarostami’s 1989 film “Homework” posed questions to students at a public school, about homework, punishments and their dreams, in an effort to portray the Iranian society of the future. Filmed in 2021, “Tonight’s Homework” repeats Kiarostami’s questions, asking them to today’s students. Some 30 years later, one thing is certain: the educational system, society and the country itself have all changed dramatically. Co-directed by Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Nematollahi, “Tonight’s Homework” highlights a country’s social transformation from a generation that grew up during war to today’s children.

“Zalava”, winner of the grand prize at the 36th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, will compete in the Mined Zone category.

The movie directed by Arsalan Amiri is set in 1978 in a small village called “Zalava”, where the villagers claim that a demon is among them. 

A young sergeant who investigates the claim crosses paths with an exorcist attempting to evict the demon from the village. He arrests the exorcist on a charge of fraud, but suddenly finds himself stuck in a cursed house with his lover. The villagers, who believe they are both possessed by the demon, decide to kill them.

“Until Tomorrow” by Ali Asgari will be screened in the No More Flowers section.

It tells the story of how a single mother’s courage is tested when she resorts to desperate measures to hide her illegitimate child from her parents.

The Istanbul Film Festival is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts.

Photo: Hoda Zeinolabedin and Navid Purfaraj act in a scene from “Zalava”.

MMS/YAW