TEHRAN – Four Iranian movies are competing in the 29th edition of the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema underway in the eastern French city.

The animated film “The Farmer and The Robot”, “The White Birds” and “The Camel and the Miller”, all directed by Abdollah Alimorad, are competing in the Young Audience section.

In “The Farmer and The Robot”, a spacecraft is forced to land in a watermelon field after a cooling system breakdown. The craft’s doors open and, as the robot heads towards a water pitcher to slacken his thirst, a farmer and his donkey rush to the safety of the house.

In “The White Birds”, over the seasons, two white birds fly towards happiness… but when winter arrives, hunger overcomes them. Where can temptation lead? And will friendship be stronger than anything else?

“The Camel and the Miller” tells the story of a miller who gets the help of a camel to grind his grain. But one day, the camel gets sick and the miller replaces him with an agricultural machine. This solution seems to be fine, but despite the characters’ apparent reserve, they slowly realize how attached they are to one another.

The animation films have been produced at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults – Kanoon.

“No End”, an Iran-Germany-Turkey co-production by Nader Saeivar, is competing in the official section of the festival, which will run until March 7.

The film is about Ayaz, an honest, hard-working man who dreams of having his own house. As he yearns for this day to come, Ayaz and his wife live at his mother-in-law’s saving every penny for building his future house. They live quite comfortably on the money sent to the mother by her son who has lived in exile for years. As he hears that the son is suddenly allowed to come back to Iran, Ayaz sees his dream fade away before his very eyes. 

In a desperate move, he decides to stage a fake police search in the house, hoping to scare his brother-in-law away and delay his return. His scheme works a little too well and arouses the interest of the secret services. Very soon, Ayaz is caught in the tightening noose of an institution that wants to turn him against everything that is dear to him. He finds himself with his back to the wall, forced to denounce his neighbors and family.

Photo: “The Farmer and The Robot” by Abdollah Alimorad.

MMS/YAW