Persian Film Festival

From a sensational psychological drama to captivating documentaries and graphically spellbinding animation, the Persian Film Festival returns for its eighth year from 4– 8 December 2019 to showcase the very best in Persian cinema.

Program highlights include critically acclaimed features: Orange Days, the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize winning drama, about a lone female contractor working in the orange fields of Northern Iran who earns a promotion and must overcome the misogynistic backlash she faces for her achievement. Another gripping drama is The Orphanage, which is about a 15 year old boy living in the streets of Kabul. His dream of becoming a Bollywood star is squandered when he is captured by Soviet police and forced into a state facility. And Reza, a heartwarming dramedy following a newly divorced man’s journey as he adapts to his new lonely life after nine years of marriage.

This year’s program also features groundbreaking documentaries. Finding Farideh, Iran’s entry for the Academy Awards 2020, is a moving exploration of identity. It follows an Iranian girl who was adopted by a Dutch couple as a child and now returns to her motherland to meet with three families that claim to be her biological relatives. Gracefully looks into the life of a drag queen who had been performing on stage for decades before the revolution and after he has been banned from performing. Now he lives in a farm and sometimes dances for elderly people at nurseries.