Fajr International Film Festival has announced the names of short films that will compete in the Eastern Vista category: Panorama of Films from Asian and Islamic Countries.
China, Lebanon, Japan, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Syria, Netherlands, and France are the countries to participate at the 36th edition of the festival. The international version of the Fajr festival is to start in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on April 19, and last until April 27. The names of Iranian short films competing in the Eastern Vista category will be announced later.
Here are all the short titles screening:
A Gentle Night (Original Title: Xiao Cheng Er Yue)
Writer & Director: Qiu Yang
DOP: Constanze Schmidt
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad
Sound: Zhu Mei, Livia Ruzic, Mikko Quizon
Cast: Shuxian Li, Zhongwei Sun, Yaning Ding, Yun Xu, Zhijian Zhang
Producers: Qiu Yang, Li Yi
Production Co: Wild Grass Films
Language: Chinese
Country, Year, Runtime: China, France | 2017 | 15 min
Synopsis:
In a nameless Chinese city, a mother with her daughter missing, refuses to go gently into this good night.
Awards:
Cannes Film Festival, Palme d’Or – Best Short Film
About Director:
Qiu Yang was born and raised in Changzhou, China. He studied film directing at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia. His short film A Gentle Night was awarded the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 70th Festival de Cannes. He became the first ever Chinese director to receive this award. In 2015, his short Under the Sun was selected for the 68th Festival de Cannes Cinéfondation Competition. He was also a participant of Golden Horse Film Academy, Locarno Filmmakers Academy and Berlinale Talents.
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Echoing Clouds
Writer & Director: Ziwei Yao
DOP: Ziwei Yao
Editor: Shao-Wen Liang, Wanhu Jin
Music: Ziwei Yao
Sound: Yuankang Zhang, Enji Zhao
Cast: Chuang Liu, Yun Hang, Xintao Xu, Wenjuan Liao
Producer: Ziwei Yao
Language: Chinese
Country, Year, Runtime: China, Singapore | 2017 | 13 min
Synopsis:
Hang makes a deal with a mob leader to murder a monk who tries to influence Hang to reconsider his actions. Through the monk, Hang realises that both of them will soon share a similar karma, that will make them suffer, one after another.
About Director:
Ziwei Yao was graduated from the City College of New York. Prior to graduation, Ziwei went into the minefields at the Chinese – Vietnamese border to shoot a documentary. Later that year, Ziwei was selected to receive the BAFTA New York Scholarship. At the moment, Ziwei is writing a feature-length film for independent production in the near future. His film-making will mainly focus on how Chinese diaspora live under various communities around the world.
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Muse (Original Title: Nagham Hayati)
Director: Fatma Racha Shehadeh
Writer: Doris Saba
DOP: Alessandro Capomolla
Editor: Maysam Al Bacha
Sound: Tony Khoury
Cast: Abdo Chahine, Inana Halabi, Lama Khawtharani, Moufid Khoury
Language: Arabic
Country, Year, Runtime: Lebanon | 2017 | 13 min
Synopsis:
After facing the atrocities of the war, Yazan, a Syrian refugee child tries to return home in search of his family.
About Director:
Fatma Racha Shehadeh was born in 1994 in Los Angeles to a Lebanese mother and a Palestinian father. She grew up in Tripoli, Lebanon and moved to LAU – Byblos in 2012 where she graduated with a BA in Communication Arts (TV/FILM) in 2015. She wrote and directed her first film, Zikra, as her senior project at LAU. It achieved several awards and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival Short Corner in 2016. Soon after that, she directed the short film, Inked, in 48-hours for the 48-hour film competition. She is currently pursuing her masters in Cinematography.
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Projection (Original Title: Toei)
Director: Natsuki Nakagawa
Writer: Risako Kifune
Editor: Riko Hukuchi
Music: Masato Ohashi
Sound: Yukiko Shimizu
Cast: Ryuzaburo Hattori, Juka, Mayu Ryokucha, Gaku Hosokawa, Yuka Arai
Producers: Ayato Tokunaga, Sumire Nakagima
Language: Japanese
Country, Year, Runtime: Japan | 2017 | 15 min
Synopsis:
A man who broke up with his wife was unable to forget her. One day, during his work as a marketing research, he reunites with his wife over the monitor.
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The Sacrifice (Original Title: Kurban)
Director: Muzaffer Mehmet Caglar
Writers: Muzaffer Mehmet Caglar, Tahsin Yetkin
DOP: Mehmet Engin
Editor: Muzaffer Mehmet Caglar, Kenan Mansur Dogru
Music: Muzaffer Mehmet Caglar
Cast: Bedir Bedir, Gurur Aydogan, Meltem Miraloglu
Producer: Cagla Caglar
Production Co: Caglar Motion Pictures
Language: Turkish
Country, Year, Runtime: Turkey | 2017 | 11 min
Premier Status: International Premiere
Synopsis:
It is a cold winter night in a village clinic in Anatolia. A little girl who was forced to marry by her family escapes and takes refuge in the forest. She wants to commit suicide with a shotgun but she cannot do it. In the morning, foresters find the injured bride. They take her to the village clinic. In the same night, Ismail is in the village clinic with his pregnant wife who soon gives birth to a baby girl.
About Director:
Muzaffer Mehmet Caglar studied Business Administration at Yeditepe University. He graduated from New York Film Academy Filmmaking department. He established Caglar Motion Pictures Film Company in 2012. His short film The Sacrifice was supported by Culture Ministry. Caglar developed script of his feature film ‘Winter Light’ with Ebru Ceylan and continues to develop it.
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Companions
Director: Nurlan Sharipov
Writers: Nurlan Sharipov, Daryn Tokhtarov, Chingiz Ablanov
DOP: Alexander Rubanov
Editor: Nurlan Sharipov
Music: Alisher Taubayev
Sound: Ilya Korobeynikov
Cast: Erzhan Nusipakynov, Sultanna Shengelbyeva, Zhanel Alikova, Myrza Makhambet, Elena Ghee
Producer: Nurlan Sharipov
Language: Russian
Country, Year, Rutime: Kazakhstan | 2017 | 15 min
Synopsis:
The head of the family is negative about the way his children live and blames his wife for it. But today something is going to happen and it will bond the whole family and make daddy proud.
About Director:
Nurlan Sharipov was born in Kazakhstan in 1968. He began making film in 2017.
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Li.le (Animation)
Director: Natia Nikolashvili
Writer: Natia Nikolashvili
Cast: Tinatin Babakishvili
Country, Year, Runtime: Georgia | 2017 | 10 min
Language: None
Awards:
Berlin International Film Festival 2017, Nominee Crystal Bear (Generation Kplus – Best Short Film for Natia Nikolashvili)
Synopsis:
In the magic forest, it is dark and cold; the fog so thick that not a single ray of sunlight shines through. The plants are withered and the lakes frozen, with nothing stirring anymore. A lonely girl and a deer are wandering through this icy landscape. What are they looking for? Natia Nikolashvili has created a fantastical world as backdrop for a tale as fascinating and enigmatic as a dream, in atmospheric water colour.
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Kombars
Director: Abdulaziz Alballam
Writers: Abdulaziz Alballam, Hmoud Alamri
DOP: Abdulaziz Alballam
Editor: Yusef Alabdullah
Music: Jassim Alrumaidheen
Sound: Soud Almisfer
Cast: Amer Abukabeer, Rawan Mahdi, Hussain Alrasheed, Sulaiman Almarzouq
Producers: Abdulaziz Alballam, Laila Alghareeb
Production Co: BLACKRAIN Films
Language: Arabic
Country, Year, Runtime: Kuwait | 2017 | 11 min
Synopsis:
A short film about an extra actor’s life. His struggle and his dream is to become a real actor.
About Director:
Abdulaziz Kadhem Mohsen Qasem Alballam was born in 1991 in Salwa, Kuwait. Student at the higher education of dramatic arts in Kuwait, he aspires to be a director. At first, Abdulaziz was interested in sports. He made his first short film Step to PK.
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Blue Fly Road
Writer & Director: Bassam Chekhes
DOP: Bassam Chekhes
Editor: Bassam Chekhes
Cast: Muna Rageb Fadel Allah, Abdulla Mohammad Dumrani, Ibrahim Mohammad Dumrani
Producers: Bassam Chekhes, Rami Nihawi, Behrooz Hashemian
Language: Arabic
Country, Year, Runtime: Syria, Netherlands, France, Lebanon | 2017 | 15 min
Synopsis:
Syrian filmmaker Bassam Chekhes’s tale of nine-year-old twin brothers investigates the mystical bond that forms between the close siblings. Ibrahim lives alone in the forest. Every day, he waits for his twin brother Abdulla to bring him food and water. One day they switch places, so Ibrahim can wander, for the first time, through the blue fly road.
Festivals:
Dubai International Film Festival 2017
About Director:
Bassam Chekhes was born in Syria and moved to the Netherlands, where he studied Audio-Visual Art and graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He has shot, directed and produced a dozen short films and collaborated on several projects with other artists and filmmakers.
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O+
Director: Waththab Oneizah
Writer: Mostafa Alrekabi
DOP: Mohammed Kamel
Editor: Ali Albayati
Music: Nac Media
Sound: Zaman Abouyazan
Cast: Ameer Almajed, Abdulla Alghareeb, Zainab Ali, Amerr Almajed
Producer: Haidar Jalwkhan
Language: Arabic
Country, Year, Runtime: Iraq | 2018 | 11 min
Synopsis:
It’s the story of two brothers having a tough time dealing with cancer.
About Director:
Waththab Oneizah is winner of the best screenplay award from Alnahj International Film Festival.
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All I Want
Writer & Director: Venika Mitra
DOP: Sarthak Johar
Editor: Gurmmeet Singh
Music: Anuarg Saikia
Sound: Resul Pookutty, CAS, MPSE, Vijay Kumar
Cast: Ballu Panchal, Kamal D. Khatak, Atteet Bhandari
Producers: Venika Mitra, Crowd Funding
Language: Hindi
Country, Year, Runtime: India | 2017 | 7 min
Synopsis:
Ratan is an incorrigible and aimless rough sleeper; who rambles through an entire day to buy one mango. The only money he has today is 9 rupees.
About Director:
Venika Mitra began his career in film as assistant director. His movie is winner of Diversity in Cannes Short Film Festival 2017.
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Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month
Writer & Director: Carlo Francisco Manatad
DOP: Lim Teck Siang
Editor: Lee Chatametikool
Music: Benjo Ferrer
Sound: Mikko Quizon
Cast: Angeli Bayani
Producers: Armi Rae Cacanindin, Ling Tiong, Josabeth Alonso
Production Co: Plan C
Language: Tagalog
Country, Year, Runtime: Philippines, Singapore | 2017 | 13 min
Synopsis:
Previously dedicated to her job at a soon-to-close gas station, the subject devotes her last night work to some questionable acts, thereby reflecting the increasingly anarchic nature of the society around her.
Festivals / Awards:
The 56th International Critics’ Week of the 70th Cannes Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, Best Southeast Asian Short Film
About Director:
Carlo Francisco Manatad is known for his work on Fatima Marie Torres, The Invasion of Space Shuttle Pinas 25 (2017), Ordinary People (2016), and Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month (2017).
For all Festival goers who are already planning their visit, check screening time and other information at www.fajriff.com, or email us at infor@fajriff.com. Presided over by Iranian film writer and director Reza Mirkarimi, the 36th edition of Fajr International Film Festival will be held in Tehran on April 19-27.
