TEHRAN- The Cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) will screen Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri’s “Careless Crime” on Monday.

The screening will be followed by a review session by Iranian critic Nima Hassani-Nasab. 

“Careless Crime” goes back to over forty years ago, during the uprising to overthrow the Shah’s regime in Iran, when protestors set fire to movie theaters as a way of showing opposition to Western culture. Many cinemas were burned down. In one tragic case, a theater was set on fire with four hundred people inside, most of whom were burned alive. 

Forty years have passed and, in contemporary Iran, four individuals also decide to burn down a cinema. Their intended target is a theater showing a film about an unearthed, unexploded missile.

The film has competed in numerous international festivals and won awards, including the Silver Hugo of the jury at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2020.

Mokri, who is also a screenwriter and film critic, made his first feature-length film “Ashkan, the Charmed Ring and Other Stories” in 2008. The film was presented at the Busan Film Festival. 

In 2013, his next film “Fish/Cat” won the Orizzonti Special Prize for innovative content at Venice. In 2018, he premiered “Invasion” in Berlin. In 2020, he returned to Venice with his third film “Careless Crime”. 

Photo: A scene from “Careless Crime” by Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri

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