Five Films at Sofia Menar 2023
In the 15th Sofia Menar Film Festival (January 16th to 29th, 2023), the following films would be screened:
Ebrahim Sheibani’s GOLDEN BLOOD is selected in Feature Films section. Previously shown in Dubai Meta Film Fest and Asian Film Festival Barcelona, GOLDEN BLOOD is inspired by the life of a woman serial killer who was the first to be hanged in Iran. Depicting some parts of the story from the point of view of the killer’s little girl, the film focuses on the human conditions in a traditional society.
In Focus on Iranian Women Directors section, there are two entries:
Manijeh Hekmat’s 19 which wanders in the labyrinths of Iranian Modern History when accompanying the sweetest and the bitterest memories of a woman painter dying from COVID 19. Formed in a film language devised in the coronavirus outbreak, 19 uses mobile shots, taken by the quarantined actors, archival footages and the scenes made with a small cast and crew to search for the lost time, remembering the revolution, the war, the forbidden love and the fatal pandemic from the late seventies to 2020. The film was premiered in the main competition of Kolkata 2022 and then participated in Kerala, Batumi, Religion Today and Terni.
Setareh Eskandari’s THE SUN OF THAT MOON which travels to the south eastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan, wrongfully and merely portrayed as a nest for the smugglers and the terrorists in the Iranian mainstream films, to tell the story of a silenced, forbidden love in a movable feast of intact landscapes, colorful dresses, spicy dishes and the enchanting music in a region ruled by limiting traditions. The film was premiered in International Film Festival of India – Goa 2021 and then competed in Iranian Film Festival Zurich 2022, Within the Family International Film Festival 2022 and Les Rimbaud du Cinema 2022.
The two films included in the short film section are Bijan Aarabi’s THE CHICK (which was awarded at Fribourg 2021) and Siavash Gorjestani’s FORCED (which was an Eastern Vista competition entry at FIff 2021).