Iranian directors to present 4 films at Palm Springs filmfest

The Spanish psychological thriller 'Everybody Knows' by Farhadi is scheduled to go on screen in the festival's Modern Masters section.

Starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, 'Everybody Knows' is about a family wedding interrupted by a shocking crime and some long-buried secrets.

Farhadi's 'A Separation' will also be screened in the Palm Springs Canon section of the event.

The flick is about a married couple who are faced with a difficult decision — to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after an aging parent inflicted by Alzheimer's.

'Cold Sweat' by Soheil Beiraqi and 'Orange Days' by Arash Lahooti will compete in two sections: US premieres and World Cinema Now.

'Cold Sweat' tells the story of Iran's national women's futsal team that makes it to the Asian Games final in Malaysia. But at the airport on departure day, the team captain finds her husband hasn't signed the document to permit her to exit from the country.

'Orange Days' narrates the story of Aban, the only female contractor in the cutthroat and male-dominated orange harvesting industry, who enters a competition to win a large contract.

Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare tale 'All Is True' was selected to open the festival, which unveiled its complete lineup of films for the 30th edition that runs from January 3 to 14. The fest also said that Bruce Bereford's 'Ladies in Black' will be the closing-night film, with the director and cast members expected to be in attendance.

In all, the fest will screen 223 films from 78 countries, and as usual will screen a slew of Oscar Foreign Language Film entries, this year numbering 43 of the 87 official submissions. Also on the docket: A 30-film retrospective of past fest selections, dubbed the Palm Springs Canon; special focuses on cinema from France, India and Mexico, and Jewish and queer cinema; and the new Ricky Jay Magic of Cinema Award, named for actor and magician Ricky Jay who died last month.

Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma', Mexico's official submission, is to be screened along with Japan's 'Shoplifters', which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes; South Korea's 'Burning', directed by Lee Chang-Dong; Lebanon's 'Capernaum', directed by Nadine; Poland's 'Cold War', directed by Pawel Pawlikowski; Belgium's 'Girl', directed by Lukas Dhont; Denmark's 'The Guilty', directed by Gustav Möller; Paraguay's 'The Heiresses', directed by Marcelo Martinessi; and Germany's 'Never Look Away', directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

In celebration of the festival's 30th anniversary, a 30-film retrospective of films from past festivals will include titles such as 'Chocolate' and 'Memento'. Films from France, India and Mexico will also be highlighted in special sections.

Source: Iran Daily

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