TEHRAN – “Migrants” by Iranian director Masud Ahmadi will be screened at the main section of the 10th edition of the International Film Festival for Human Rights Colombia, which will be held from August 10 to 17.

The film follows fifteen different people, but it does not tell their stories. In a way, this film is a cinematic interpretation of Jerzy Grotowski's Poor Theater. Regardless of its production value, everything the audience sees in the film is simultaneously there and not there. The audience encounters a bird that is and is not. A train that passes and does not pass. A car that passes and does not. An explosion that happens and does not happen. And a village that exists and does not exist. This is what migration is. You leave your place of birth, but you are still there. You go to another place, you physically feel in a different place, but you have left your true self behind.

“Migrants” will compete with “The Furthest Distance in the World” by Wang Qiang from China, “Orpa” by Theo Rumansaral rom Indonesia, “When the Seedlings Grow” by Reger Azad Kaya from Syria and “The Pregnant” by Pedro Wallace from Argentina.

The International Film Festival for Human Rights Colombia offers attendees an audiovisual, cultural and academic program that contributes to the formation of audiences, the strengthening of film and cultural industries, the creation of spaces for dialogue around life, reconciliation, the promotion and defense of human rights, and the construction of ideas for peace.

The Festival is the ideal setting for the film community of Colombia and the world that bets on audiovisual narration with a focus on human rights, which is why it becomes the main platform for the promotion, circulation, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual works whose demand is limited due to their non-commercial subject matter.

The Festival is being held simultaneously in the cities of Barranquilla, Medellin, Cali, Bogota, Soacha, Cartagena, Manizales, Pereira and Villavicencio, and in about 10 municipalities in the country, organized by Fundación Impulsos.

Photo: A poster for “Migrants” by Iranian director Masud Ahmadi

ABU/