Fajr International Film Festival on Wednesday revealed on its website the name of two more films that will attend the event.
Iraqi drama ‘The Journey’ by Mohamed Al Daradji will be competing in the Eastern Vista section, while Pat Collins’ ‘Song of Granite’ has been selected for the main competition section Cinema Salvation.
A 2017 co-production of Iraq, Canada, Britain, France, Qatar and The Netherlands, the film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.
Set on the day of Saddam Hussein’s execution, ‘The Journey’ is a tense and harrowing psychological thriller that takes place in Baghdad’s central railway station and its environs. A woman enters the station on a December morning in 2006, with a bomb strapped to her stomach and her finger twitching over the trigger.
According to the festival secretariat, the director and two cast members of ‘The Journey’ will attend the film screening.
‘Song of Granite’ is a 2017 Irish biographical drama depicting the life story of legendary Irish folk singer Joe Heaney (1919-1984), providing an audacious exploration of the man and his music, with an approach that marries traditional narrative episodes with documentary footage.
The movie was selected as the Ireland submission for best foreign-language film at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Earlier this week the festival announced the names of four other foreign films attending the main section including ‘Dovlatov’ from Russia directed by Aleksey German Jr., ‘Grain’ from Turkey by the international award-winning director Semih Kaplanoglu, ‘Aga’ (2018), a joint production of Bulgaria, Germany and France by Milko Lazarov and ‘Night Accident’ from Kyrgyzstan by Temirbek Birnazarov.
To be held in Tehran April 19-27, the 36th edition of FIFF comprises 12 sections, namely Cinema Salvation (International Competition), Panorama of Films from Asian and Islamic Countries (Eastern Vista), Cup of Divination (Festival of Festivals), Docs in Focus, Classics Preserved, Special Screening, Magic Lantern, Broken Olive Branches, A Retrospective of Italian Cinema, A Retrospective of Georgian Cinema, Cinema Bell and German Short Film Festival.
