Two Iranian films ‘Mehran,’ by Roqayyeh Tavakkoli, and ‘Sea Boys,’ by Afshin Hashemi and Hossein Qassemi-Jami are slated to take part in 19th edition of Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) in India.

The festival will be held from December 30 to January 6, IRNA wrote.

‘Mehran’ has previously won the Best Film Award at the Iranian Cinema Festival of Chantilly, held in Paris.

‘Sea Boys’ was screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China and the Cinekid Screening Club in the Netherlands and is set to be screened at the Dhaka International Film Festival in Bangladesh.

Tavakkoli has said her film tells the story of a boy named Mehran who hosts a family from the Iranian city of Mehran which was affected by the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war on Iran.

The film is about the hospitability of the people of Yazd during the war.

“Two boys on two sides of the country; the northern one has lost his father, the southern one has lost his mother… So both of them are looking forward to a substitution,” reads ‘Sea Boys’ synopsis.

Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation started organizing the CIFF from the year 2003. Striving to be on par with the best international film festivals across the globe, CIFF is dedicated to presenting the best of international and Indian Panorama films to the cinema-loving city of Chennai.