The 2021 Fajr International Film Festival has announced the names of 15 short films that are participating in the International Competition section.
According to the Secretariat of the annual event, the short films are as followed:
Bum Bro (Russia)
Director: Peter Timofeyev
Cast: Anton Rogachev, Ekaterina Goldfarb, Fedor Lavrentyev
Synopsis
A young rapper and musician walks through the city streets searching for the homeless. He wants to hear their stories, which he records on his phone. In one of these encounters, he gets an unusual idea.
Cell 364 (Germany)
Director: Zoé Rossion, Mathilde Babo
Cast: Hans-Jochen Scheidler
Synopsis
While Germany represents itself as a democratic model for other countries, an ex-prisoner of the Stasi delivers from his former cell a frightening testimony that questions the sustainability of contemporary democracies.
Daddy (Lithuania)
Director: Justas Ramanauskas
Cast: Gabija Jaraminait, Darius Gumauskas, Martynas Nedzinskas
Synopsis
When their father suddenly dies on holiday, his three adult children who haven’t spoken in years get to work together to bring his body home.
Emergency (Iran)
Director: Maryam Esmikhani
Cast: Saeed Changizian, Nazanin Ramezani, Milad Mirzaei, Elnaz Hassanpour
Synopsis
Nazanin is a seven year old girl, who is trying to reveal a secret that bothers her by getting close to the emergency doctor that visits their house to check on her mother.
Falmeniderit (Luxembourg, Albania)
Director: Nicolas Neuhold
Cast: Maximilien Jadin, Denis Jousselin, Adrien Papritz, Oscar Martin
Synopsis
In 1921, Luxembourgish cartographer Charles Schaeffer is sent to Albania as part of a border commission to gather information on the topography and the people of the region. The country has recently become independent, but it does not yet have clearly defined borders. Charles meets a young boy and he shows him how he does his work.
Fibonacci (Czech Republic)
Director: Tomás Hubásek
Cast: Aneta Bosková, Silvie Kudelová, Adéla Petáková, Eliska Benesová, Tereza Stachová
Synopsis
Humans walk through fields. An unenlightened hunter crosses their path. Environmental dance film or audio-visual meditation on Fibonacci patterns in the landscape.
Goads (Greece)
Director: Irida Baglanea
Cast: Hristos Passalis, Matina Kartsiouna, Athanasia Kalimani
Synopsis
Ira lives with her family at a remote place in Greece. She faces one of the strongest experiences of her childhood during a training session with her father, who has a very specific view on life.
Gold Is Eating People (China)
Director: Xia SU
Synopsis: An animated short by Su Xia of the School of Film and Animation at the China Academy of Arts, which was selected for showing at this year’s FIFF in the competition.
A Hole (New Zealand)
Director: James Solomon
Synopsis
A skilled workman digs a perfect hole in a cracked earthen plain in an endless warehouse, a series of well-dressed people come and sit on comfortable couches offering contradictory opinions, and the job gradually unravels.
Our Kingdom (Portugal)
Director: Luís Costa
Cast: Afonso Lobo, António Júlio Duarte
Synopsis
In a village where time and space mean nothing, a child dwells in the death vortex.
Pilar (The Netherlands)
Director: Janis Joy Epping
Cast: Diana van Houten, Yngwie Boley
Synopsis
An animation film about a woman who is fascinated with wilderness beyond the walls of the post-apocalyptic and desolate village she lives in. A dangerous intruder finally gives her the chance to discover the wild animal within and the means to escape her suffocating situation.
Small Panda Big Panda (Iran)
Director: Sahar khoshnam
Cast: Maral Bani Adam, Shabnam Goudarzi, Behzad Khalaj
Synopsis
Leila is happy to meet Farid after a long time. She plans to eat with him at a restaurant where they bring up a past argument.
The White Wall (Italy)
Director: Andrea Brusa, Marco Scotuzzi
Cast: Laura Tombini, Anna Coppola, Sebastiano Filocamo
Synopsis
A principal and a teacher conspire to protect their students from an invisible predator lurking inside their school. Based on a true story.
Whatever Happened to Ms Longstocking (Sweden)
Director: Jimmy Olsson
Cast: Pippi, Petrén Tommy, Rolf Sohlman, Anki Larsson, Jimmy Olsson
Synopsis
Journalist Jimmy Olsson wants to know what happened to Pippi Longstocking after she grew up. What happened to her and her relationship with Tommy and Annika. Jimmy finds her on a race track for an interview.
Yocheved (Iran)
Director: Sahar Khoshcheshman
Cast: Peyman Moghadami, Kiana Montajabi, Siyamak Rashedi
Synopsis
Nourjahan is an Afghan seeking asylum in the U.S. with Kaveh whom she has recently met. They work together to scam rich boys for the journey. The money is only enough for one person and Kaveh needs to make a choice.
The 2021 FIFF is scheduled to get underway in the Iranian capital on May 26-June 2. This year’s event is presided over by Iranian film director and screenwriter Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour. The festival is widely considered one of the most prestigious and influential in Asia, Europe and Greater Middle East.
