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TEHRAN \u2013 Two feature films by Iranian directors will be shown at the 73rd Sydney Film Festival, which will run from June 3 to 14 in Australia.<\/p>\n
Asghar Farhadi\u2019s \u201cParallel Tales\u201d will compete in the Official Competition section and Shahram Mokri\u2019s \u201cBlack Rabbit, White Rabbit\u201d will be screened in the Features section, ISNA reported.<\/p>\n
Farhadi\u2019s 10th feature film, which will premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival (held in France from May 12 to 23) is a French-Italian-Belgian coproduction with a stellar cast including Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa, and Catherine Deneuve.<\/p>\n
Shot in Paris, Farhadi delivers a layered, complex drama about a writer using surveillance for inspiration. Sylvie (Huppert) is in need of a successful new novel and is on the search for inspiration. She is also being forced to vacate her Paris apartment. Desperate, she spies on her neighbors across the street using a telescope. There she observes brothers Nico (Cassel) and Theo (Niney) and their colleague Nita (Efira), who work in a sound studio. Their imagined lives and romantic situations initially provide promising material for Sylvie. But when she hires the mysterious young man Adam (Bessa) to assist her pack up the apartment, and shares with him her observational tactics and the resulting work, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Farhadi (winner of the Sydney Film Prize in 2011 for \u201cA Separation\u201d) is a master in conveying ambiguity and placing his characters in the grip of moral dilemmas. Here, in a film loosely based on Krzysztof Kieslowski’s \u201cDekalog: Six,\u201d he explores how surveillance and storytelling can have a deep impact on reality.<\/p>\n
Asghar Farhadi, 54, won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2012 for \u201cA Separation\u201d (which was also nominated for Best Screenplay) and once again in 2017 for \u201cThe Salesman\u201d.<\/p>\n
He has been selected four times in competition in Cannes with \u201cThe Past,\u201d \u201cThe Salesman,\u201d \u201cEverybody Knows,\u201d and \u201cA Hero\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Salesman\u201d won Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards at Cannes in 2016 and \u201cA Hero\u201d scooped the Grand Prize at the 2021 festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody Knows,\u201d Farhadi\u2019s Spanish-language debut starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, opened and competed at Cannes in 2018.<\/p>\n
Farhadi was also selected twice in Berlin. He was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director in 2009 for \u201cAbout Elly\u201d and the 2011 Golden Bear for \u201cA Separation\u201d.<\/p>\n
In addition to \u201cParallel Tales,\u201d there are other Cannes 2026 premieres playing in Sydney\u2019s official competition this year including Andrey Zvyagintsev\u2019s \u201cMinotaur,\u201d Cristian Mungiu\u2019s \u201cFjord,\u201d Pawe\u0142 Pawlikowski\u2019s \u201cFatherland,\u201d and Hirokazu Kore-eda\u2019s \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d.<\/p>\n
The festival will show 248 films from 81 countries, with screenings hosted at Sydney Opera House, State Theater, and cinemas across the city.<\/p>\n
The competition also includes Sundance hits Olivia Wilde\u2019s \u201cThe Invite\u201d and Australian horror \u201cLeviticus,\u201d as well as Berlinale competition premiere \u201cDao\u201d and opener \u201cNo Good Men\u201d.<\/p>\n
The festival jury will be presided over by Brazilian director Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho, alongside Singaporean filmmaker Boo Junfeng, Hungarian filmmaker Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi, Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner and director Sally Riley.<\/p>\n
Shahram Mokri\u2019s \u201cBlack Rabbit, White Rabbit,\u201d which had its world premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea last September, will be shown in the non-competitive Features section of the upcoming Sydney Film Festival.<\/p>\n
Mokri\u2019s fifth feature film is a joint production of Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates and deals with three people\u2019s destinies that intertwine through apparently unrelated events.<\/p>\n
Chekhov\u2019s famous dramatic adage \u2013 if a gun appears, it must be fired \u2013 sets the scene for Mokri\u2019s audacious latest, set in Tajikistan and replete with his hallmark virtuosic long takes, wry humor, and interlinking narratives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A wealthy wife, wrapped in bandages from a car accident, starts to suspect her husband of foul play. On the set of a remake of a classic Iranian film, an experienced armorer fears the prop gun might be real. At an acting audition, a young woman pulls a rabbit out of a hat. These seemingly unrelated stories combine into a playfully intriguing whole, with a healthy dose of magical realism and meta-textuality.<\/p>\n
Shahram Mokri, 47, won the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons Award in 2013 for Creative Content for his second feature film \u201cFish & Cat\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2018, his third film \u201cInvasion\u201d was screened at the 68th Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for the Teddy Award.<\/p>\n
He also won a silver Hugo medal at the Chicago Film Festival in the main section and the Venice Critics’ Best Screenplay Award for his fourth film \u201cCareless Crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
The cast of the 139-minute movie includes Babak Karimi, Hasti Mohammai, Kibriyo Dilyobova, and Bezhan Davlyatov, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since its inception in 1954, the Sydney Film Festival, recognized by the Federation Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF), has increased in size and reputation to become a leading international film festival in Australia.<\/p>\n
The festival takes place each June at venues across Sydney. Its program celebrates the best of world cinema, screening features, documentaries, short films, retrospectives and a series of industry and public talks.<\/p>\n
**** Photo: A screenshot from Asghar Farhadi\u2019s \u201cParallel Tales\u201d<\/p>\n
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