Iran’s strong presence on Cannes 2018 red carpet
Although Iran has not submitted any feature film to Cannes 2018, the participation of Iranian cineastes on its red carpet is stronger than it has been in years.
Cannes Film Festival is considered as the biggest filmic event of the year since it brings together the best productions and cineastes from around the world while only dozens of films are fortunate enough to attend the festival.
In addition to Asghar Farhadi’s ‘Everybody Knows’, ‘Three Faces’ by Jafar Panahi was screened in the festival’s competition section.
Panahi failed to participate in the festival, however, Mastaneh Mohajer, Amin Jafari, Behnaz Jafari were there at the French festival’s red carpet to watch the film in the absence of its director.
‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ramin Bahrani was also screened in out of competition segment of the festival.
‘Border’, is the Cannes debut of Danish-iranian director Ali Abbasi which went on Un Certain Regard section’s silver screen.
Two short films ‘Darkness’ by Saeed Jafarian and ‘Like a Good Kid’ by Arian Vazirdaftari will be screened in short film competition section and Cinéfondation respectively on Wednesday and Friday.
Iran’s cinema has participated in all 70 editions of the festival and received several awards including Prix du Jury, Caméra d’or, Prix du scenario, Prix d’interprétation masculine and most significantly Palme d’or for late filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Taste of Cherry’.
* Bahman Abdollahi is a film critic.