TEHRAN – Movies from Iran will be competing in different sections of the 79th Venice International Film Festival as the organizers announced the event’s lineup on Tuesday.

“Beyond the Wall” by Vahid Jalilvand will be screened in the main competition of the festival, which will take place on the Lido from August 31 to September 10.

Starring Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi and Amir Aqai, the film is about the life of a blind man, which starts to fall apart when a wandering woman enters his life.

Jalilvand’s 2017 drama “No Date, No Signature” won him the Orizzonti best director and Mohammadzadeh best actor at the 74th Venice Film Festival.

Jafar Panahi’s “No Bear” will also be showcased in this section. However, Iran doesn’t recognize the film as an Iranian production as it has not been subjected to the country’s official procedure for obtaining production and screening licenses.

Arian Vazirdaftari’s “Without Her” and Hooman Seyyedi’s “World War III” will be screened in the Orizzonti competition.

“Without Her” tells the story of Roya, a woman who is planning to emigrate from Iran. She encounters a quiet young girl who appears lost and doesn’t remember anything. She takes her in, providing her with a home and introducing her to her husband, family and friends, all the while blissfully unaware that this girl has come to replace her.  

“World War III” follows Shakib, an ordinary day laborer who finds himself a job behind the scenes of a movie set. The film being shot is meant to be in condemnation of dictatorships, but the filmmakers themselves turn into dictators who would do anything to achieve their goals and they inadvertently turn Shakib into a terrifying monster.

Iranian actress Leila Hatami, best known for her role in the Oscar-winning drama “A Separation”, is a member of the jury of this year’s Venice.

The Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore is the president of the jury, which also consists of Argentinian director and screenwriter Mariano Cohn, Italian director and screenwriter Leonardo Di Costanzo, French director Audrey Diwan, Japanese-English screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro and Spanish director and screenwriter Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

The 79th Venice will kick off with a screening of the Netflix film “White Noise” written and directed by Noah Baumbach in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema.

Photo: A combination photo shows scenes of Iranian movies in the lineup of the 79th Venice International Film Festival.

MMS/YAW