MAY 26 – IRANIAN JUNE 03, 2021 FILM FESTIVAL ZURICH . IRANIAN7 FILM FESTIVAL ZURICH WWW.IRANIANFILMFESTIVAL.CH PROGRAM TABLE OF CONTENTS SPECIAL PROJECTION OUT OF COMPETITION ANIMATION SHORT FILMS Liebes Publikum Coup 53 - Taghi Amirani 6 Nasrin 26 My Moon, Our moon 47 Das Iranian Film Festival wird dieses Jahr zum siebten Mal in Zürich stattfinden. Im Volks- Moving Heart 27 Cloudy Goats 48 mund ist die Rede vom «verflixten siebten Jahr» in Beziehungen. Um das Filmfestival und das IN COMPETITION Kind Moon 49 Zürcher Publikum muss man sich aber keine Sorgen machen – hier haben sich zwei gefun- den, die zusammenpassen. SHORT IN COMPETITION Hairy 50 Blue Girl 12 The Dog That Was Sick 51 Zu verdanken haben wir das den engagierten Organisatorinnen und Organisatoren des Film- (Formerly) Youth Square 13 The Visit 29 Ton Pich 52 festivals. Seit 2014 stellen sie jährlich ein attraktives Programm aus aktuellen Spiel-, Doku- Killer Spider 14 Driving Lessons 30 The Night Song 53 mentar- und Kurzfilmen zusammen. Diese belegen das eindrückliche Schaffen der iranischen Old Men Never Die 15 Tehran Recyclers 31 Scarecrow’s Heart 54 Filmschaffenden. Oft unter schwierigsten Bedingungen kreieren diese kluge, skurrile, lustige Star Stuff 16 Interview 32 The Fisherman and Spring 55 oder nachdenkliche Filme. Etwa den Film «Nasrin» über die mutige iranische Menschen- rechtsaktivistin Nasrin Sotoudeh, für den alle Aufnahmen heimlich gemacht wurden und I am Here 17 Aydin 33 The Farmer and the Robot 56 wofür die Filmerinnen und Filmer eine Verhaftung riskierten. Seven Stories about Love 18 White Winged Horse 34 Botox 19 White Clad 35 Kanoon 57 Persönlich freut mich, dass die Macherinnen und Macher des Filmfestivals in diesem – eben Amphibious 20 Meatophile 36 vielleicht nicht so verflixten – siebten Jahr ein weiteres Angebot ins Programm aufgenommen Filmfarsi 21 Musician 37 JURY haben: Erstmals gibt es am Samstag und Sonntag Animationsfilme für Kinder zu sehen. A Stranger in Paris 22 Snowy Mother 38 Ich danke den Organisatorinnen und Organisatoren des Iranian Film Festival Zurich für ihr Engagement für die Filmstadt Zürich. Ich wünsche dem Festival für seine siebte Austragung Pari 23 The Chauffeur 39 Jury 60 viel Erfolg und Ihnen, liebe Festivalgäste, viel Vergnügen bei Ihren Entdeckungsreisen in die Mirror 40 The IFFZ Trophy 63 iranische Filmwelt. Past Award Winners 24 Spotted Yellow 41 Checkmated 42 TEAM Witness 43 Corine Mauch, Before Darkness 44 Team 64 Stadtpräsidentin This is Me 45 The IFFZ Intro 67 Timetable 68 Ticket Info 69 2 3 SPECIAL PROJECTION WILLKOMMEN WELCOME BIENVENUE Yadolah Dodge Founder & Artistic خوش آمدید Director, IFFZ Welcome to the seventh edition of the Iranian Nasrin by Jeff Kaufman, a film about a lawyer. Film Festival online, due to uncertainties caused A woman who defends the poor, the needy and by the pandemic and the missing existence of a those who cannot afford a lawyer. real fiesta experience. In 2020 the festival went In Coup 53 Taghi Amirani tells in his excep- SPECIAL online in a time when most festivals cancelled tional documentary the story of the 1953 Coup or postponed to a much further date. d’Etat by CIA/MI6 that changed the destiny of To build a more solid cultural bridge between the Iranian nation. In between the festival pre- PROJECTION people, the Iranian Film Festival brings a novelty sents a Zurich story called Moving Heart, a film this year by starting to collaborate with the Insti- by Yadolah Dodge, about a man, his creation tute for the Intellectual Development of Children and his thoughts. & Young Adults known as Kanoon which was founded in 1965 in Tehran to promote the creati- The 7th edition of the festival displays vity, intellectual and artistic abilities of these age a selection of exceptional films from Irani- Taghi Amirani groups. In this edition we present 10 animation ans and other national filmmakers from Coup 53 short films produced by Kanoon. These films do Austria, Canada, UK, Greece, USA and Thursday, June 3, 20:30 not require subtitles. IFFZ invites children of all across all generations showing many ages to enjoy these exceptional animation films. aspects of life in Iran as well as universal In this edition, the festival presents 12 issues. feature and 17 short films in competition. These films will be judged under the eyes of prestigi- Founder & Artistic Director ous jury members for winning the Golden Cyrus Yadolah Dodge Cylinder Trophy: writer-director Barbara Miller as president of the feature film jury with Annina Furrer writer-director, Gertrud Pinkus editor-wri- ter-director, Véronique Gray journalist-editor in chief of Vivamost, and Joël Jent, writer-producer and Karin Heberlein writer-director-actress, which presides the jury for short films in compe- tition with Homayra Sellier, Sorbonne graduate, humanist and founder of Innocence in Danger, Firouz Pillet journalist and film critics, and Moritz Schneider founder of CUT-UP a distribution of short films. The Opening film of the festival is 4 5 SPECIAL PROJECTION SPECIAL PROJECTION TAGHI «Remarkable AMIRANI passionate and fearless will enthrall documentary and history geeks jaw dropping revelations has the air of something that grew from an impudent home movie into a magnum opus» — THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Biography FAQ Taghi Amirani was born in Iran in 1960 and science series Equinox. Inspired by the In 2002, in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, How did you get Walter Murch to work with moved to England for school in 1975, four fictional character Felix Happer, played by Amirani made a short polemic for Channel you on this film? years before the revolution that ended the Burt Lancaster in Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero, 4 News called War on Iraq: Just Say No. In I met Walter in New York on 19th August Shah‘s rule and created the Islamic Republic. „Basingstoke“ tells the heart-warming and 2004 Amirani made his first film back home 2012, the 59th anniversary of the coup. It He studied physics at Nottingham Univer- quirky stories of British amateur astrono- in Iran. Gaining exclusive access to Shargh, was meant to be! The stars aligned. Walter sity where in 1984 instead of doing a final mers. The Guardian said „It‘s Taghi Amirani‘s Iran’s leading reformist newspaper, Red and I kept in touch for another two years year lab project he made Shades of Black, first film and a beauty of its quiet kind. He Lines and Deadlines was made for the PBS before I finally popped the question. Imagine a documentary about black holes. Inspired is a born miniaturist and they are a valuable, series Wide Angle. It was updated in 2005 you‘re making the most important film by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and stealing from a rare, and endangered species.“ during the presidential elections that intro- of your life, presenting huge challenges, BBC documentary about Stephen Hawking, Amirani has gradually shifted his focus duced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the world. carrying with it significant consequences, his student film got him a physics degree away from the eccentricities of the British The Wall Street Journal said: “Red Line and and you manage to get the world‘s best with honours and a coveted place at film to politics and Western foreign policy in the Deadlines, directed by Iranian filmmaker editor to cut it for you. That‘s just the school at Bristol University. On graduating in Middle East. In 2001 he went to Afghanistan Taghi Amirani, provides an unprecedented greatest gift a director can dream of. For the 1986 he made Mechanics of Love, a low-bud- for the BBC to film the plight of Afghan refu- look into the Orwellian world of Iranian last 4 years I have been living in film-making get black-and-white silent comedy about gees as the US and British bombs began to journalism.” heaven. romance in a parking lot. A homage to Buster fall weeks after 9/11. The Dispossessed was Amirani has been a jury member at the In- Keaton via Woody Allen, the film landed shot in a Taliban-controlled refugee camp ternational Emmys, Royal Television Society, How did you get Ralph Fiennes to be in Amirani his first job in TV as a researcher on over nine eventful days. The Daily Telegraph One World Media Awards and Sheffield In- COUP 53? design and technology documentaries for said: „The Dispossessed charts the fall of ternational Documentary Festival where he‘s Walter Murch. Walter and Ralph have schoolteachers. the Taliban from a unique perspective... A also a member of the Advisory Committee. known each other since working on The In 1989 he produced and directed Earth remarkable record of how fast-moving events He has run the New York marathon twice. English Patient. Most of the good stuff in Calling Basingstoke, his first TV documen- affect ordinary lives. A quietly humane film... Dreaming of a third time after Covid-19. COUP 53 comes from having Walter Murch tary made for the British Channel 4 flagship powerful and dignified.“ COUP 53 is his debut feature documentary. on the film. Pure and simple. 6 7 SPECIAL PROJECTION SPECIAL PROJECTION English title: Coup 53 Genre: Documentary Country and year of production: UK, 2019 Length: 118 min Language: English, Persian Subtitles: English Director: Taghi Amirani Screenplay: Taghi Amirani, COUP 53 کودتای Walter Murch ۵۳ نفس :Director of Photography Taghi Amirani, Synopsis Simon Fanthorpe, Ten years in the making, Coup 53 tells the story of the Chris Morphet, 1953 the Anglo-American coup d’état that overthrew Iran’s Claudia Raschke, government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and Ben Richards reinstalled the Shah. The CIA/MI6 covert action was called Editor: Walter Murch Operation Ajax. It was all about Iran’s oil and who gets to Music: Robert Miller control and benefit from it.