TEHRAN-The 28th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which is underway in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India, has included two Iranian films in its Homage category.

The thought-provoking drama “A Minor” by Dariush Mehrjui and the classic “Brick and Mirror” by Ebrahim Golestan are among the notable entries in the special tribute section, which features eleven remarkable films showcasing the brilliance of renowned artists within the film industry.

Both Mehrjui and Golestan, who are considered as influential filmmakers in Iran, passed away earlier this year. Mehrjui was a recipient of the lifetime achievement award in the 19th edition of IFFK, ISNA reported.

With his landmark debut feature, “Brick and Mirror,” made in 1965, Golestan delivered a jolt of modernism to Iranian cinema, laying the groundwork for the country’s first, still often overlooked New Wave.

The film centers around Hashem, a taxi driver, who finds a baby child in the back seat of his cab one night after he gives a ride to a young lady. He and his friend try to cope with this unwanted child.

Melding the influences of Persian poetry, 1960s European art cinema, and Wellesian expressionism, “Brick and Mirror” offers a portrait of a crumbling relationship that also functions as a devastating dissection of a society poisoned by fear, distrust, and patriarchal arrogance.

The movie stars Zakaria Hashemi, Akbar Meshkin, Pari Saberi, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz and Manouchehr Farid.

“A Minor” revolves around a young girl named Nadi who is interested in playing, but her father strongly opposes music, and this is where her problems begin.

The movie delves into the depths of human emotions and societal dynamics. Set against the backdrop of Iranian society, it explores the intricacies of human relationships and the challenges faced by its diverse characters. Pardis Ahmadiye and Ali Nasirian star in the lead roles.

Mehrjui played a key role in the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s. Known for works like “The Cow,” “Hamoun,” “Leila,” “Pear Tree,” “Santouri,” and “Maman’s Guest”. He often drew inspiration from literature, adapting Iranian and foreign novels and plays into films.

In addition to these two films, five other movies by Iranian directors are present at two more categories of the Indian festival.

“Achilles” by Farhad Delaram is the only film from Iran competing in the International Competition category.

The 2023 drama tells the story of a young filmmaker who currently works in a hospital and takes a mental patient out for a short ride to find out who she really is. Now he has to decide whether to run away with her or take her back to the hospital.

Delaram’s feature debut has been shot on various locations. It takes the audience from the capital Tehran to the dried-up Lake Urmia in the northwest of the country, to the Caspian Sea in the north, and to Maku, near Turkey’s border. Mirsaeed Molavian, Behdokht Valian, Roya Afshar, and Neda Aghighi are in the cast.

Delaram, 35, won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film in the Generation 14plus section of the 2019 Berlin Film Festival for his short film “Tattoo”.

The World Cinema category of the festival is also hosting four films from Iran including “Endless Borders” by Abbas Amini, “The Last Birthday” by Navid Mahmoudi, “The Annoyed” by Mehdi Fard Ghaderi, and “Junks and Dolls” by Manijeh Hekmat.

“Endless Borders” is a political thriller that happens at the time when the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan reignited the fire of ethnic and tribal wars.

In the movie, the Hazara Afghans, who are under immediate threat from the Taliban, enter Iran illegally. Ahmad is an exiled Iranian teacher in a poor village of Iran close to the Afghan border. When he gets acquainted with a Hazara family, he sees the real face of prejudice and dogmatism in the region. He decides to save a young forbidden love but that decision can have dire consequences for everyone.

The film has won the VPRO Big Screen Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and the Golden Peacock for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India, Goa.

Mahmoudi’s latest feature film “The Last Birthday” tells the story of Soraya, a female journalist, who has been trying to spread news about the difficult situation of Afghan women to the world for years. However, Taliban forces surprise Soraya and her friends once they arrest her at home on her birthday.

The political drama features Elnaz Shakerdoust, Pedram Sharifi, Sheyda Khaligh, Armin Rahimian, Sogol Khaligh, and Reza Behbudi among others.

Fard Ghaderi's third movie, “The Annoyed” is an episodic film about three cinema directors trying to make a film about social problems of violence and abuse against women and execution.

The cast includes Leila Zare, Mohammad Amin, Farrokh Nemati, Reza Behboudi, Roya Javidnia, and Hediyeh Azidhak among others.

The directors’ previous feature films “Immortality” (2016) and “Weightlessness” (2019) were screened at several festivals around the globe, highly acclaimed, and received various awards.

In “Junks and Dolls,” a couple is destined to build up their life in the heart of a waste depot in the heart of Iranian north forests. They begin to make different things with the junks they find and to make friends with other people.

Behdokht Valian, Mohammad Valizadegan, Reza Koolagahni, Raja Jafari, Jahan Yaghoubi, and Yamna Hosseinzadeh are in the cast.

A veteran filmmaker, Hekmat usually addresses the social problem of women in the society in her films. She is a producer and director, known for “Women's Prison” (2002), “Three Women” (2008) and “Bandar Band” (2020).

An annual event, the International Film Festival of Kerala is recognized as one of the leading cultural events in India.

Over the years, the IFFK has come to be known as Asia’s best managed and probably the world’s most people-centered film festival.

The festival aims at presenting a competition section exclusively for films from Asian, African and Latin American countries and a selection of the best of World Cinema.

Opened on December 8, the festival will come to a close on December 15, screening 175 movies from 81 countries.

Photo: Scenes from “Brick and Mirror” (L) and “A Minor”

SS/SAB