“Amini Hospital of Langerud” by Mohammadreza Hosseinzadeh, “Jihadist Torchbearers” by Somayyeh Haji Ahmdai, “That Night” by Javad Yaqmuri and Mehdi Amini, “Special Operation” by Hojjatollah Edalatpanah and “All for Everyone” by Mohammad Rafiei are among the Iranian short documentaries of this section.

Also included are “Mask” by Leila Rostami Shokuhi, “Block 65” by Vahid Hosseini Nami, “School Children” by Mohammad Rafiei, “Corona in Heaven” by Mahbubeh Aqanuri, “Standing in the Dust” by Elnaz Qaderpur and “Nurse of Bani Hashem Hospital” by Farshid Faraji.

The international documentaries include “Social Distance” by Erkan Özcan (Turkey), “Portugal Coronavirus Documentary” by Carlos A. Costa (Portugal) and “Italy Lockdown: How the Coronavirus Has Forever Changed Our Lives” by Carla Falzone and Sacha Biazzo (Italy).

“Learning in the Time of Corona” by Jasmine Ng Qian Yi (Malaysia), “Thanks the Heroes” by Syed Muhammad Hassan Zaidi (Pakistan), “So close, So Far” by Komeil Soheili (Iran) and “A Mask for Everyone” by Faroqhi Anna Peretz Haim (Germany) are also included.

Abolfazl Jalili, Payam Fazlinejad, Abdolsattar Kakai, Masud Moinifar and Hadi Naiji are the jury members for the “Health Defenders” section.

In appreciation of the medical workers’ efforts on the front lines of the campaign against COVID-19, the festival has initiated a category titled “Health Defenders” in collaboration with the Health Ministry.

Films focusing on the endeavors health workers have made during the pandemic will be competing in this section.   

Over 20 short and feature documentary films will be screened in the documentary section.

The short documentaries include “A Letter from Damascus” by Mehdi Ebrahimkhani, “Imilia” by Ruhollah Akbari, “Lotus” Mohammadreza Vatandoost, “Persian Island” by Mohammad-Ali Sadrinia, “Saru” by Mohammad Abdollahi, and “Noah’s Ark” by Sudabeh Babagap.

Among the feature documentaries are “The Last Days of Winter” by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian, “Women with Gunpowder Earrings” by Reza Farahmand, “Life on High Altitude” by Azizollah Hamidnejad, “Zemnako” by Mehdi Qorbanpur, “Bridge” by Amir-Hossein Noruzi, and “Resurrection” by Mohammad-Ali Farsi. 

A lineup of 12 films has also been selected to go on screen in the Festival of Festivals category.

The Festival of Festivals section plans to review movies produced over the past 40 years on the Islamic Revolution, resistance, and the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which is known as the Sacred Defense in Iran.

The lineup includes “The Glass Agency”, “From Karekheh to the Rhine” and “The Scout” by Ebrahim Hatamikia, “The Survivor” by Seifollah Daad, “Journey to Chazzabeh” by Rasul Mollaqolipur, and “Standing in the Dust” by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian.

“The Fateful Day” by Shahram Asadi, “Track 143” by Narges Abyar, “Kimia” by Ahmadreza Darvish, “Villa Dwellers” by Monir Qeidi, “Child of the Soil” by Mohammad-Ali Basheh Ahangar, and “Hoor on Fire” by Azizollah Hamidnejad are also included.

The festival is organized every year to commemorate the anniversary of the Sacred Defense.

The 16th edition of the event will go online due to a spike in the coronavirus cases in the country.

The festival is scheduled to be organized in two stages, the first of which will take place during the Sacred Defense Week from September 21 to 28.

The second part of the festival will be held from November 21 to 27 to celebrate the anniversary of Basij Day, which falls on November 25.  

Source: Tehran Times