Nowrouz Festival
FEATURE PROGRAM
I Want To Be A King
Iran | 2014 | 70 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Abbas has turned his own home to a guest house in a nomadic area of Iran. With the support of his wife and three children, he runs a successful Eco-tourism business. He has an ambitious dream, creating a new tribe by his own and becoming the sovereign. Therefore, he plans seriously to fulfill his dream and searching for a nomadic girl to be the queen of his tribe. Since he is Muslim, he has the right of taking more than one wife at the same time. His current wife and children are against this idea and break up with him.
SCREENING TIME
Saturday 19 March – 2:30 PM
Love Marriage in Kabul
Afghanistan, Australia | 2014 | 85 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Mahboba Rawi has dedicated herself to orphans of Afghanistan. She is the mother figure for many. Abdul, one of the orphans, is in love with Fatemeh, the girl next door. They hope to marry. But her father has other plans. He wants her to marry anyone offering a large dowry. Devastated, Abdul hopes Mahboba will help him again. But, Fatemeh’s father demands beyond anyone’s expectation. He wants them to pay $10,000 or find a wife for his son instead. The couple’s fate depends on Mahboba to meet or negotiate his terms.
SCREENING TIME
Sunday 20 March – 2:30 PM
Breath
Iran | 2016 | 110 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Breath is about an Iranian family who live in Iran. It tells the story of Bahar, who is living with her father, Ghafour (Mehran Ahmadi) and Grandmother (Pantea Panahiha) during the 70s. Bahar is living in her childish and surreal world, filled with their dreams and fantasies.
SCREENING TIME
Monday 21 March – 2:30 PM
Dressage
Iran, France | 2018 | 95 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Golsa, a 16 year old girl from suburb of Tehran, who is motivated primarily by boredom rather than greed, robs a corner shop with her friends. But while sharing the booty they are distressed to realize that they forgot to take the security camera footage. One of them must return to the crime scene to get it.
SCREENING TIME
Tuesday 22 March – 2:30 PM
Fireworks Wednesday
Iran | 2006 | 100 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
On the last Wednesday before the spring solstice ushers in the Persian New Year, people set off fireworks following an ancient Zoroastrian tradition. Rouhi, spending her first day at a new job, finds herself in the midst of a different kind of fireworks — a domestic dispute between her new boss and his wife.
SCREENING TIME
Wednesday 23 March – 2:30 PM
Parviz
Iran | 2012 | 107 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Despite his 50 years Parviz still lives off his father and the two men don’t get on very well. Things come to a head when the father tells his son he has decided to remarry. Parviz has no other choice but surrender his place to his step-mother and leave home. Parviz finds it difficult to get used to this new solitary life far from his neighborhood and the people he knows. He thus concocts a novel way of fighting back against the injustice done to him.
SCREENING TIME
Thursday 24 March – 2:30 PM
African Violet
Iran | 2019 | 93 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Middle-aged Shokoo finds out that ex-husband, Fereydoun, has been placed in a nursing home by their children. She and her second husband Reza, decide to take care of Fereydoun themselves, but in their own home. In doing so, the relationship between Shokoo and Fereydoun is significantly transformed.
SCREENING TIME
Friday 25 March – 2:30 PM
Hendi and Hormoz
Iran, France | 2018 | 88 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
On the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, according to local custom, thirteen-year-old Hendi is married off to sixteen-year-old Hormoz. Despite the fact that the young couple hardly know each other, they fully enjoy the beginning of their married life together. However, events occur which darken their original joy and lead to unexpected outcomes.
SCREENING TIME
Saturday 26 March – 2:30 PM
Finding Farideh
Iran | 2018 | 88 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Finding Farideh is a feature-length documentary about an Iranian girl named Farideh, who had been abandoned in a holy shrine In Iran when she was 6 months old In 1976, and then she got adopted by a Dutch couple and left Iran to the Netherlands to start her new life. Her parents promised to take her to Iran when she turns 18, but it never happened because they always thought that Iran is a dangerous country to go. Now, she overcomes her fears and starts a personal journey to her motherland Iran for the first time to meet three families who claim to be her biological family and to find out about her Iranian identity and culture.
SCREENING TIME
Sunday 27 March – 2:30 PM
A Few Cubic Meters of Love
Iran, Afghanistan | 2014 | 90 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Somewhere in the outskirts of Tehran a small factory illegally employs Afghan asylum seekers, who live with their families in old containers or modest shacks in nearby shanty towns. Saber, a young Iranian worker, secretly meets Marona, daughter of Abdolsalam, an Afghan worker. A love story unfolds, the conclusion of which no-one can foretell.
SCREENING TIME
Monday 28 March – 2:30 PM
Fish and Cat
Iran | 2013 | 134 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Some college students travel to a remote region for a camping trip and to participate in a kite-flying event. By the bleak lakeside, there’s a restaurant, where three cooks treating the students very suspiciously. The relation between the students and the cooks gradually becomes weirder as it seems the students are confronting some problems that there is no escape.
SCREENING TIME
Tuesday 29 March – 2:30 PM
Nahid
Directed by Ida Panahandeh
Iran | 2015 | 105 min | Unclassified 15+
Language: Persian (English Subtitles)
SYNOPSIS
A young divorcee living with her son in a small northern city of Iran, wants to marry the man she has fallen in love with. According to the current rules, the father has the custody of children; however, her ex-husband has granted her that right on the condition that she doesn’t remarry. Struggling to keep both of her beloved ones, she has to think about the third option: Temporary Marriage (Sighe). However, this will get her into a predicament, as despite its being legal, Sighe is not well-received by the society at all. Would temporary marriage be a good solution for her?
SCREENING TIME
Wednesday 30 March – 2:30 PM
Orange Days
Iran | 2018 | 102 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Aban, a 45-year woman, employs seasonal female workers to pick oranges in the North of Iran. Her business becomes the largest orange garden in the region. Her competitors, all male in the business, start making obstructions to her contract.
SCREENING TIME
Thursday 31 March – 2:30 PM
The Warden
Iran | 2019 | 87 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
A prison is about to be evacuated to make room for an airport expansion project. Major Jahed and his officers are busy transferring all inmates to the new facility, but one inmate is missing.
SCREENING TIME
Friday 01 April – 2:30 PM
A Hairy Tale
Iran | 2019 | 105 min | Unclassified 15+
SYNOPSIS
Danesh works at a small barbershop, but his true calling is to become an actor. Manfered promises to act as his agent and introduce him to a famous director, if Danesh gathers enough long hair to make a wig. At the same time, murders are being committed in the city. Detective Kiani is here to investigate and like he says: it’s a messy situation. Homayoung Ghanizadeh pays tribute to the surrealism of his favourite playwrights in a delightful, bizarre black comedy which won the 37th Fajr Film Festival last year.
SCREENING TIME
Saturday 02 April – 2:30 PM
SCREENING SCHEDULE
FILMS | SCREENING DATE | TIME |
I Want to be a King | Saturday, 19 March | 2:30 PM |
Love Marriage in Kabul | Sunday, 20 March | 2:30 PM |
Breath | Monday, 21 March | 2:30 PM |
Dressage | Tuesday, 22 March | 2:30 PM |
Fireworks Wednesday | Wednesday, 23 March | 2:30 PM |
Parviz | Thursday, 24 March | 2:30 PM |
African Violet | Friday, 25 March | 2:30 PM |
Hendi and Hormoz | Saturday, 26 March | 2:30 PM |
Finding Farideh | Sunday, 27 March | 2:30 PM |
A Few Cubic Meters of Love | Monday, 28 March | 2:30 PM |
Fish and Cat | Tuesday, 29 March | 2:30 PM |
Nahid | Wednesday, 30 March | 2:30 PM |
Orange Days | Thursday, 31 March | 2:30 PM |
The Warden | Friday, 1 April | 2:30 PM |
A Hairy Tale | Saturday, 2 April | 2:30 PM |
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