Archive of films Riverside / Kenar-e Roodkhaneh

Iran
2004, 80 min

Section: Official Selection - Competition
Year: 2004

This Iranian drama is set during the allied attack on Iraq. It describes the anabasis of Kurdish refugees from zhe noorth of a country seffering from the dictatorship of Saddam Husein. Director Ali-Reza Amini illustrates the influence of political terror and the machinery of war on a community of people.

Synopsis

This Iranian drama takes place during the Coalition offensive against Iraq. It depicts the anabasis of Kurd refugees from the north of the country plagued by the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. The key scenes are set on a mountain plain. The refugees – heading across the border to Iran – make up a sample of wretched and disoriented country people. Central to the story is a young bride who steps on an anti-personnel mine. Will any of them help the incapacitated woman? This absurd situation is reminiscent of the Oscar-winning film No Man’s Land set in former Yugoslavia. The drama, which comes close to a documentary, confronts concrete human impotence with the impersonalised machinery of war, represented by planes and helicopters. The film is a blackly grotesque probe which maps the malignant influence of political abnormality on the human community. Each refugee is submerged in his or her own problems, memories and illusions and finds it hard to act rationally.

About the director

Ali-Reza Amini (b. 1974, Teheran) whilst still studying (2000) made the short film The Apartment which won a prize at the Molodist IFF. In the same year he began to gain professional experience (as assistant director on the film Time for Drunken Horses). He made his debut in 2000 with the feature film Rainbow (2000). As director and producer he realised his own project, the film Letters in the Wind (Namehay bad, 2002). In 2003 he directed, produced and edited his own script, Tiny Snowflakes (Danehaye rize barf). It took the Special Prize at the IFF in Locarno, won awards at IFFs in Pusan and Thessaloniki, and is being screened this year at Karlovy Vary.

Contacts

Iranian Independents
P.O. Box 15875-4769, , Tehran
Iran
Tel: +98 912 319 8693
Fax: +98 912 3198693
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.iranianindependents.com

Asr-E Entezar
No. 344, 1st Floor Samadi Str., North Jamalzadeh St., , Tehran
Iran
Tel: +98 21 642 0995
Fax: +98 21 642 0995

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About the film

Color, 35 mm
International premiere

Section:	Official Selection - Competition

Director:	Ali-Reza Amini
Screenplay:	Ali-Reza Amini
Dir. of Photography:	Touraj Aslani
Music:	Safin Kharajiani
Editor:	Ali-Reza Amini
Producer:	Habibollah Kasehsaz
Production:	Asr-E Entezar
Cast:	Shadi Varvai, Mohammad Javaheri, Kamran Sadeghi, Mohsen Surai
Contact:	Iranian Independents, Asr-E Entezar