TEHRAN – The Match Factory, a Cologne-based world sales and production company, has purchased the rights for worldwide sales of the Iranian drama “Beyond the Wall”.

Written and directed by Vahid Jalilvand, the film is an entry to the international competition of the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, which will take place on the Lido from August 31 to September 10.

Match Factory managing director Michael Weber said he was “fascinated, engaged and surprised” by the film, Screen Daily reported on Friday.

“Beyond the Wall” is about a blind man whose suicide attempt is interrupted by his building’s concierge who informs him of an escaped woman’s hideout in the building. It becomes the blind man’s goal to help her.

Produced by Jalilvand’s brother Ali, the film reunites Navid Mohammadzadeh and Amir Aqai, stars of Jalilvand brothers’ previous film “No Date, No Signature”, which won the best director prize and best actor for Mohammadzadeh in the Orizzonti competition of the 2017 Venice Film Festival, and was Iran’s submission to the Oscars.

The Match Factory also handles the worldwide sales for the filmmakers such as Maren Ade, Karim Ainouz, Fatih Akin, Alice Rohwacher, Thomas Arslan, Ritesh Batra, Marco Bellocchio, Laura Bispuri, Lukas Dhont, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Abel Ferrara, Michel Franco, Miguel Gomes, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tatiana Huezo, Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismaki, Amat Escalante, Samuel Maoz, Pietro Marcello, Lucrecia Martel, Sebastian Meise, Nanni Moretti, Kornel Mundruczó, Christian Petzold, Kelly Reichardt, Carlos Reygadas, Gianfranco Rosi, Julian Rosefeldt, Felix van Groeningen, Wang Xiaoshuai and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Photo: Navid Mohammadzadeh and Amir Aqai act in a scene from “Beyond the Wall” directed by Vahid Jalilvand.

MMS/YAW