Cinéma Vérité announces lineup of COVID-19 docs

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Twenty-five films on COVID-19 will be competing in Cinéma Vérité as the organizers of the major Iranian documentary festival announced the lineup for the special category set up this year to attract attention to this disastrous disease.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s festival will be held entirely online from December 8 to 15.

The four top works selected in this category will be honored at the closing ceremony, while the international section of the festival is non-competitive this year, the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC), which is the main organizer of the event, announced on Saturday.

Among the films are “It’s Not Permanent” by Majid Faraji, “Jihad Narrative” by Milad Amini-Movahhed, “Mask Symphony” by Masud Babai and “Night Shift” by Mohammad-Hossein Hemmatinejad and Mohsen Fazili.

The lineup also includes “Mobile Doctor” by Mehdi Zaghian, “Special Operation” by Hojjatollah Edalatpanah, “Quarantine” Payam Mirtabrizian, “Section 19” by Masud Dehnavi, “The First Wave” by Zahra Moslemipur and “When Kindness Becomes a Pandemic” by Alireza Baghsheni.

Cinéma Vérité plans to review the Chilean documentary cinema during a special program named “Chilean Films Panorama”.

A number of acclaimed documentaries by Chilean filmmakers, including Francisco Bermejo’s documentary “The Other One”, will be screened in this section.

In addition, a selection of documentaries acclaimed at 2020 international events across the world will be reviewed in a special program entitled “World’s Best”.

A highlight of this year’s festival is a virtual master class that will be held by Polish filmmaker Hanna Polak.

She will be discussing filmmaking in a crisis at the master class.

Several top Iranian and international documentarians and critics, including Betsy A. McLane, Bill Nichols and James Bertrand Longley in addition to famous Iranian documentarians Mehrdad Oskui and Farhad Varahram, will also hold workshops during the event.

source: Tehran Times