Empty Nets (Leere Netze)| Dir: Behrooz Karamizade | Germany, Iran | 2023 | 101 | WC-NC | Santham | 11.45 AM – A satisfying good life for working-class youth in Iran is questionable. They can’t even decide on a married life that they like. Living in the same town on the shores of the Caspian Sea, Amir and Narkes fall in love. In today’s Iran, theirs is a class-stifled family, so Amir and Narkes hide their love and talk about it in secret at meetings.
The Narkes family is a very prosperous family. The Amir should give the dowry amount that the family members of the Narkes family ask for the marriage. He fears that he will be separated from his girlfriend for this. To earn enough money, he takes up fishing. By then Narkes also gets news that a suitable groom is in sight. Aamir indulges in illegal activities in his desire to go home with dowry as soon as possible. He ventures into his fishing business with a group of people who illegally catch endangered species of sturgeon. (Sturgeon is the common name for 28 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae). Fish keep falling into the net… but the price Amir pays turns out to be dangerous.
The entire film was shot on the Caspian coast, in Rasht and Bandar-e Anjali, two cities in the north. Scenes of Nayagan and his crew fishing along with the day-to-day work of the fishermen there were filmed on real, always-on fishing grounds.
That Afternoon (Die Middag) | Dir: Nafiss Nia Netherlands | 2023 | WC-NC | 75′ | Serene | 9.40 AM – One afternoon the lives of both Roya and Nazimin collide. Roya is a refugee who sought asylum in the Netherlands from Iran. After completing all the legal proceedings, he is forced to be deported back to Iran. But Roya does not want to go back to Iran. In her pocket was the address of Nazim, who helps refugees. She takes it and looks for his house. She hopes to be with Nasim, who helps rejected refugees. But Nasim did not open the door. The door is closed. But inside is the person she was looking for.
Two Men and a Closed Door is the movie. A voice on the other side of the door tells of the pains of his life and asks for mercy. A voice on this side of the door reluctantly tells of his dilemma. Did the two different points meet? Inquiries and explanations are heard from both sides of the doors without looking at each other.
An experimental film directed by Nafis Nia, a female poet from the Netherlands. He is a multi-talented artist who has been in love with films since the age of 15 and studied film in a film college properly and came to the film industry and is making achievements.
Angry Annie | Dir: Blandine Lenoir France | French Films | 2022 | 119 | Seasons | 9.30 AM – When it comes to women’s right to sexual self-determination, it is also about the fundamental right to safe abortion. In many places the view regarding this is backward. Laws are tightened against feminist ideas, restrictions are widened, and consent is denied to those of childbearing age. This was the case in the Netherlands until the Abortion Act came into force in 1984.
The film talks about women’s solidarity in the fight for abortion and basic rights in France in the 70s. A rural village in France in 1974. Annie is a factory worker who loves her family very much. Annie, a working mother of two teenage children, realizes she is pregnant. But after two children, he decides not to have children. He also knows that there is a government ban on this. She meets the Movement for the Liberation of Abortion and Contraception (MLAC) and seeks their support.
When abortion was legalized in France in the 1970s, Annie asks at one point what would happen if the government changed the law again in the indefinite future. Criticism of the film also raised the question of why there was a need to raise the issue of the 70s today in the context of today’s ubiquitous sexual freedom.
But the film emphasizes the importance of women understanding their own bodies and the need for women to support its legalization and calls for women’s collective support on this issue. Leads the fight for access to safe, non-judgmental abortion for everyone – regardless of age, profession, race, gender, gender identity or marital status.
The heart of the film is the emotional performances of Helen (Zida Hanrod) as MLAC volunteers and Annie (Laurey Calamy) as Monique (Rosemary Standley) as a pregnant activist. It is a revolutionary new idea and the film is making a big splash in all the international film festivals where it is screened.
Tibean Hearts | Dir: DodgerKarlcha | USA, Tibet | WC-C | 2023 | 70′ |Serene |1.45 AM – It is a film created from the Tibetan Plateau which is hailed as the highest beautiful place in the world. This film was started as a cultural project to show the beauty of the traditional life of the hill people in harmony with nature. Based on true events, ‘Tibetan Hearts’ is full of romance like the English romantic epic Romeo and Juliet.
Between rivalries between sheep herding families, their young heirs fall in love. The shooting of the film began a month after the death of a 91-year-old woman who had waited for more than 70 years for her lover who left town to return. Ever since director Donjar Karlcha started the film, various hurdles have arisen. First, within a few weeks of starting the production of the film, the corona virus spread all over the world. The Spanish production company that produced the film pulled out after the film was relaunched after all the waves of Corona were almost over. Fortunately, Hollywood’s The Maya Film Group came forward to produce it.
]Hollywood film technicians, through video communications, led a local crew and completed a 21-day shoot in Tibet. All the crew members are of Tibetan origin. They went to the village for the shooting of the film under the prescribed conditions. Therefore, each scene is created from a truly beautiful Tibetan Plateau.
