Iran,
2000, 95 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
-
Mehdi Sabaghzadeh
- prod
-
Mohammad Hashem Sabouki
- scr
-
Mohammad-Hadi Karimi
- cam
-
Nemat Haghighi
- editor
-
Fereydoun Zhurak
- mus
-
Mehrdad Jenabi
- cast
-
Faramarz Sedighi, Soraya Ghasemi, Hadis Fouladvand, Majid Hajizadeh, Mahtaj Nojoumi
- source
-
Shiraz Film, 624 East Mission Ave #26, Escondido, CA 92025. FAX: 760-233-0368. EMAIL: shirazfilm@aol.com
OTHER
This intimate three-corner drama is a turning point for director Mehdi Sabaghzadeh, better known in Iran for his more commercial films. Rezvan is a pious, middle-aged woman whose main purpose in life is to be a good Moslem; her life is dedicated to her religious rituals. Showing off the depth of her faith in God, she persuades her husband Hadji to marry one of the newly homeless women who has survived a devastating earthquake. She asks a social worker at a charity organization to find the most miserable woman she can find, and the social worker finds Maral. When Rezvan removes Maral’s chador in front of her husband, the initially reluctant Hadji is mesmerized by her youth and beauty and falls head over heels. Overcome by jealousy, Rezvan, her Islamic duties forgotten, becomes obsessed with getting rid of Maral and restoring her previously happy life with Hadji. But can she? This gripping and splendidly acted film—especially by veteran stage and film actress Soraya Ghasemi, winner of the best actress award at the Fajr Film Festival in Tehran—portrays a society where hypocrisy rules and polygamy is an accepted tradition. A censored version of the film is scheduled to be released in Iran.
—Katayoun Beglari
FACTOID #273
In 2006 the Festival widened its scope, screening films at seven satellite venues throughout the city including an arts venue (Intersection for the Arts), a pub (Edinburgh Castle) and a fire station (San Francisco Fire Station #7).
