Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi to be special guest at Turkish filmfest

TEHRAN,May 17(MNA) -- The Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi will be a special guest of SineMardin International Film Festival, which will be held from June 8 to 15 in Mardin in Turkey. The festival picks three great movies “Baran”, “Children of Heaven” and “Song of Sparrows” directed by Majidi for screening during the gala and he will take part in panel discussions on his films during the event. “Children of Heaven” was nominated in the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the annual Academy Awards in 1998 and his “Baran” was selected by Iranian cultural officials to represent Iranian cinema in the event in 2001. Another film “Song of Sparrows” brought actor Reza Naji a Silver Bear prize for best actor at the 58th Berlin Film Festival. “Baran” tells the story of a 17-year-old Kurdish worker who discovers that the new Afghan laborer at the construction site where he works is actually a woman disguised as a man struggling to support her family. Upon learning this, he becomes infatuated with her and does all in his power to help her survive, even at the cost of his own well-being. “Children of Heaven” is about eight-year-old Ali and his younger sister Zahra, who are accustomed to taking care of the many daily responsibilities in their family. When Ali loses his sister's newly repaired pink shoes, it is a disaster because she has no other pair. Ali begs Zahra to say nothing until he can recover them. When the shoes eventually turn up, they are on the feet of another little girl who probably needs them just as much as Zahra. Finally, Ali rests his hopes on a citywide footrace for third and fourth graders where the third prize is a pair of shoes. “The Song of Sparrows” tells a bittersweet parable about the struggles of a family living in a rural area outside Tehran. The theme of the 7th SineMardin Film Festival is “street”. Like the previous editions, this year’s theme will create a focus on the extraordinary urban structure of the city of Mardin by realizing open-air film shows and parallel events spread around the historical town.