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The news of the arrest of Jafar Panahi, Mostafa Al-Ahmad and Mohammad Rasoulof last week came to cement the oppressive tactics of the current Iranian regime, with the industry now being in more fear than ever for more incarcerations. At the same time, and despite these issues and the whole censorship that dominates all aspects of life, the Iranian movie industry remains rather vibrant, still one of the biggest in the world, with hundreds of movies produced every year. In a homage to both the arrested and the industry, we present 25 Iranian movies, released post-2010, in alphabetical order.

1. 180° Rule (2020) by Farnoosh Samadi

Based on real events, Samadi’s first feature film after 3 increasingly successful short ones, is not an easy work. It’s highly dramatic and is a real punch in the guts; we assist, unable to intervene, to a self-destructive behaviour that appears fool to say the least. However,...

Movies about historical events or personalities have always been the perfect candidates for prestigious awards along with actors showing their set of skills giving a performance as a person we probably only know from history books. However, a majority of these productions, despite being awarded, are often content with the retelling of a person’s biography or the steps which led to event, without presenting a view or new idea of the event’s broader context or what it means to a contemporary viewer. “Careless Crime”, the new feature by Iranian director Shahram Mokri, which is part of this year’s Orizzonti competition during the Venice Film Festival, is based on the 1978 attack on the Cinema Rex in the city of Abadan which caused the death of 473 people trapped in the burning cinema. However, instead of recounting the chronology of the event, Mokri aims to show the relationship between cinema...

Iran has chosen childhood labor drama “Sun Children” as its national representative for the Academy Awards best international feature film category. It is the sixth time that a firm directed by Majid Majidi will represent the country.

The decision was announced on Sunday by the delegation of the representative of Iranian cinema to the Oscar ceremony. The committee said that it screened 90 films and whittled that down to a shortlist of 12 before making its final decision. Other films in contention had included drama “Walnut Tree,” “Yalda: A Night for Forgiveness” and “Careless Crime.”

“Sun Children” had its world premiere in competition at the 77th Venice Film Festival in September. The film’s star, Ruhollah Zamani, was named the best young actor at the Italian festival and claimed the Marcello Mastroianni Award. Majidi was presented with the Lanterna Magica award.

The story follows a small group of kids who sign up...

Chicago – The Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) is competitive, and the 56th edition presented its awards on October 23rd, 2020, as a live virtual and online event on the Ciff YouTube page. The winner of the Gold Hugo as Best International Film was “Sweat” (France), directed by Magnus von Horn.

The 56th Chicago International Film Festival Celebrates Day Ten of the movie extravaganza, with films available for 2020 virtually and online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 2020 Ciff. Go to Page Two for the schedule of October 23rd, 2020.

The awards were presented by the various jury members in each film category, and were hosted by Artistic Director Mimi Plauché, Managing Director Vivian Teng, as well as programmers Anthony Kaufman and Sam Flancher. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

‘Sweat’

Photo credit: Chicago International Film...

Chicago – The 56th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) is virtual and online Right Now, so go download some movies! This is your last chance for Industry Days (through October 18th), where you can rub virtual elbows with some of the movers and shakers in the film industry here in Chicago.

..and nationally/internationally. All the information to “sit in” on the events is available by clicking here.

The 56th Chicago International Film Festival Celebrates The Weekend. On Saturday, October 17th, the Drive In is showing “Ammonite” (click here). On Sunday, October 18th, the Drive in showing “The Road Up” (click here).

Appearances Of The Day:

Friday, October 16th 7:00pm: “For Madmen Only” … Livestream Q&a with actor James Urbaniak and director Heather Ross. Suggested streaming start time, 5:20pm. 9:00pm: “Finding Yingying” … Livestream Q&a with director Jiayan “Jenny” Shi, producer Brent E. Huffman and cinematographer Shilin Sun.

“Love Mooning,” a drama by veteran Japanese director Manda Kunitoshi, has been set as the opening film of Tokyo Filmex. The festival announced the line-up for its 21st edition on Thursday.

Filmex, which has long specialized in Asian art films and usually starts in late November, will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 7 this year. It will be operated in partnership with the Tokyo International Film Festival, whose dates are Oct.31-Nov. 9.

“Love Mooning,” charts the troubled romance between the head of a mental health clinic and one of his patients. Manda also chairs the festival’s five-person jury.

The closing film will be Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven,” a 2019 Cannes selection about a director, played by Suleiman himself, who finds himself comically trapped in Palestine even when he is in New York and Paris. Suleiman is also the subject of the festival’s Filmmaker in Focus section, which will...

Shahram Mokri was born in 1978 in Kermanshah, Iran. After graduating from Tehran’s Soureh College, he has made eight TV dramas, two TV series and over 20 short features. His second feature “Fish & Cat” won the prestigious Orizzonti Award for innovative content during the 70th Venice International Film Festival.

His fourth feature “Careless Crime” was selected at this year’s Orizzonti competition at Venice Film Festival and based on a tragic incident which happened in Iran in the 1970s.

In an interview with Amp, Shahram Mokri talks about the background of his movie, its narrative style as well as the cast of “Careless Crime”.

“Careless Crime” is based on a specific incident which happened in Iran in the 1970s. Could you explain what happened and why this event is relevant for your film?

This is a story which is very important in my home country, especially for cinema. If you...

Virtual festival to run from October 14-25.

A host of Cannes Label and autumn festival selections populate the competitions line-up at the upcoming virtual edition of the 56th Chicago International Film Festival announced on Monday (September 21).

Venice and Toronto selections in the International Feature Competition include Apples (Greece) from Christos Nikou and Philippe Lacôte’s Ivorian Night Of The Kings, while among the New Directors highlights are João Paulo Miranda Maria’s Memory House from Brazil, and Palestine-set Gaza Mon Amor from Tarzan and Arab Nasser.

True Mothers (Japan) from Naomi Kawase in International Feature Competition and Spring Blossom (France...

Time doesn't just shift in Shahram Mokri's Iranian drama about a fire at a cinema that killed 478, it also folds like origami and pirouettes, the past and present so close as they dance they can feel each other's breath. The fire really happened, 40 years ago, as the shah stood on the brink, a catalogue of errors adding, like tinder, to the tragedy. Now that period flows into the present day as another group of men decide to take on what they view as the decadence of the moving image and a similar set of careless choices prime the scene.

In the threatened cinema of the here and now another film, Careless Crime, is playing, about soldiers stuck in the desert with a flat tyre and an unexploded missile and the way they cross paths with a group of women who are preparing to watch Masud Kimai's The Deer - the same.

While the coronavirus pandemic has canceled major festivals such as Cannes and Telluride, the 2020 Venice Film Festival is moving ahead as planned and will be the world’s first major film festival since Sundance and Berlin at the start of the year. Venice 2020’s main selection will be split into three sections: Venezia 77 (aka the main competition), Out of Competition, and Horizons. The titles selected for the main competition will compete for the Golden Lion, which was awarded last year to Todd Phillips’ “Joker.”

As previously announced, Daniele Luchetti’s drama “Lacci” will open the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 2. The movie is the first Italian title to open Venice in 11 years. The last Italian opener was Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baarìa” at the 2009 festival. “Lacci” is included in this year’s Out of Competition section. Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” follow-up “Nomadland” was also confirmed for a world premiere...