Earlier, the organizers had said that they would not arrange an official opening ceremony in order to allocate its cost to flood relief in the southeastern Iranian region.

A lineup of 22 movies will go on screen in the official competition of the festival this year.

Abadan 11, 60 by Mehrdad Khoshbakht, Atabay by Niki Karimi, The Clouds about to Rain by Majid Barzegar, Toman by Morteza Farshbaf, Exodus by Ebrahim Hatamikia and Good, Bad, Garish 2: The Secret Army by Peyman Qasemkhani are among the competing films.

The lineup also includes Day Zero by Saeid Malekan, Walnut Tree by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian, Amphibian by Borzu Niknejad, I’m Scared by Behnam Behzadi, Shahre Qesseh Cinema by Keivan Alimohammadi, The Pulp by Soheil Beiraqi and Day of Chaos by Behruz Shoeibi. 

The festival will also screen To Die in the Pure Water by Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi, The Night, a co-production between Iran and the U.S. by Iranian-American director Kurosh Ahari, Skin co-directed by Bahram and Bahman Ark and The Sun by Majid Majidi.

Also included are Butterfly Swimming by Mohammad Kart, Bone Marrow by Hamidreza Qorbani, Qasida of the White Cow by Behtash Sanaeiha, There Was Blood by Masud Kimiai and Three Puffs of Prison by Saman Salur.

The films in the official competition are due to be judged by the jury composed of Narges Abyar, Fereidun Jeirani, Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpur and Maziar Miri. 

Abbas Belondi, Turaj Aslani, Saeid Rad, Tahmasb Solhju and Reza Purhossein are the other members of the jury. 

A lineup of 10 movies will also go on screen in the documentary section, while 10 short films will compete in the festival.

The jury for the documentary, short film, and New Look sections are Mehdi Jafari, Ruhollah Hejazi and Mostafa Razzaq-Karimi.

Fereshteh Taerpur and Hadi Moqadamdoost are also the other members of the jury. 

The organizers have also announced that films on resistance and jihad will be honored with an award named after Quds Force commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani who was martyred in a U.S. air raid in Baghdad on January 3.

The 38th Fajr Film Festival will be held in Tehran from February 1 to 11.

Source: Tehran Times