TEHRAN-The cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran will show “The Beasts,” a 2022 Spanish-French thriller film directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, on Monday.

After the movie screening at 5 p.m., it will be reviewed at a session titled “Xenophobia” with the presence of the cinema and philosophy scholar Mohamad Hossein Mirbaba, Honaronline reported.

The film is loosely inspired by real events involving a Dutch couple in Santoalla, a semi-abandoned hamlet of the Spanish municipality of Petin, from 2010 to 2014. It follows a married French couple settled in the Galician countryside, exploring issues of xenophobia and escalating hostility between neighbors buoyed by a conflict vis-a-vis a wind farm project, arriving to a point of no return.

“The Beasts” earned a leading 17 nominations at the 37th Goya Awards, Spain's main national annual film awards, and won nine, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. It also won the Best Foreign Film at the César Award, the national film award of France.

Xenophobia is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-group and an out-group and it may manifest itself in suspicion of one group's activities by members of the other group, a desire to eliminate the presence of the group which is the target of suspicion, and fear of losing a national, ethnic, or racial identity.

It will be the 554th program of the IAF cinematheque, which is dedicated to the screening of the famous films from Iran and the world.

The Iranian Artists Forum is situated at Artists Park on North Mousavi Street, Taleqani Street.

SS/SAB