TEHRAN-One day before the world premiere of the Iranian drama “The Old Bachelor,” written and directed by Oktay Baraheni, at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, its poster was unveiled.

The film had its premiere on Tuesday and it will have three more showings on January 31, February 2 and 3, ISNA reported.

The film poster depicts the face of the globally-renowned Iranian actress Leila Hatami who has a leading role in the movie.

In addition to Hatami, Hamed Behdad, Hassan Pourshirazi, Mohamad-Reza Davoudnejad, Reza Rouygari, Mohammad Valizadegan, and Babak Hamidian are in the cast among others.

The 192-minute movie tells the story of two middle-aged brothers who live with their bullying father. A man prone to rages and driven by chauvinism, the father’s abusiveness found his second wife leaving him and now he picks on his eldest son. When the man rents out the flat above to a young woman, with intentions of marrying her, the woman’s attraction to the older son slowly pushes this profoundly damaged family to breaking point.

Featured in the Big Screen Competition section, the film will compete with 11 other movies from Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, Finland, Italy, India, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, and the Dominican Republic.

The section is a diverse competition bridging the gap between popular, classic, and art house cinema. An expert audience jury picks the winner.

Another film from Iran is also present at the Limelight section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. “Terrestrial Verses”, co-directed by Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari, had its Dutch premiere at the event on January 27. It was also shown on January 28 and 30, and will have another screening on February 3.

Channeling the spirit of Abbas Kiarostami, the dark satire undertakes a rigorous formal inquiry into the nature of authority. This is a film that succinctly illustrates the heritable connection between Iranian filmmakers’ creative use of suggestive minimalism and their efforts to evade state control.

In nine simple vignettes, filmed indoors with a static camera, civilians in Tehran come face to face with individuals vested with power – parents, teachers, functionaries, businessmen – in delicate dialogues. These range from hair color to baby naming and dog ownership. Each of the vignettes unfolds as an interview between a visible subject and an offscreen authority who grills them.

Despite the Kafkaesque absurdity of the situations, the film reveals points of resistance – moments when power is challenged or subverted by recalcitrant characters.

The cast includes Majid Salehi, Gohar Kheirandish, Farzin Mohades, Sadaf Asgari, Hossein Soleimani, Bahram Ark, and Ardeshir Kazemi among others.

A 2023 production, the film has so far been featured in many international film festivals, including Cannes, Hamburg, and Zurich. It has also received several nominations and won some awards as well.

Since its foundation in 1972, the IFFR has maintained a focus on independent and experimental filmmaking by showcasing emerging talents and established auteurs. The annual film festival also places a focus on presenting cutting-edge media art and arthouse film, with most of the participants in the short film program identified as artists or experimental filmmakers. The IFFR is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno.

Launched on January 25, the 53rd edition of the festival will wrap up on February 4, awarding the winners of various categories.

SS/