Rotterdam Festival; 9 Iranian Filmmakers and Mohsen Namjoo Alongside Metallica

The 45th edition of the Rotterdam International Film Festival, one of the largest film festivals in Europe, opened on Wednesday night, January 27 (Bahman 7). This year, the festival has paid special attention to young Iranian filmmakers both inside and outside of Iran, hosting 9 Iranian filmmakers, including Babak Jalali, who is competing this year with his film 'Radio Dreams' featuring Mohsen Namjoo. Over the twelve-day festival, a total of 477 films will be screened, of which 106 will have their world premieres. More than 260 filmmakers from fifty different countries will participate in this festival. Mohsen Namjoo, a well-known Iranian singer who has lived in the U.S. for years, plays the lead role in 'Radio Dreams'; not as a musician or singer, but as a writer named Mr. Royani, who was famous in Iran but had to leave his homeland and now runs 'Pars Radio', a Persian-language radio station in San Francisco that produces poetic programs for Afghans and Iranians living there. A group called Kabul Dreams, considered the first rock band from Afghanistan, is set to perform alongside the famous band Metallica in the studio of this radio. Lars Ulrich, the drummer of Metallica, is also mentioned as one of the actors in this film. The world premiere of this film will be on Monday, and it will compete for the Rotterdam Tiger Award in the main section of the festival against seven other films from filmmakers selected as 'with a bright future' - including 'A Woman, A Section' by Elizabeth Subrin and 'The Last Land' by Pablo Lamar. This year marks one of the most fruitful presences of young Iranian filmmakers, reminiscent of the significant Iranian cinema retrospective at this festival in 2012. 'Brick and Mirror' by Ebrahim Golestan, considered one of the first important and influential films in Iranian cinema, is experiencing new screenings at global festivals after fifty years and will also be shown at the Rotterdam festival. 'Badkin Ras', directed by Kaveh Madani, tells the story of an Iranian/Dutch man named Badkin (played by Sohrab Bayat) who, in the town of Forres, Scotland, alongside real local people, shapes the documentary-fiction hybrid structure of the film. 'We Are in Heaven' by Sina Attaiyan Dena, which premiered in the competition section of the Locarno Festival, will be shown in the 'Bright Future' section at Rotterdam; it provides a sharp image of today's Iran, narrated around the story of a lonely teacher on the outskirts of Tehran. Vahid Hakimzadeh's film 'Bigger Things', made in Japan, tells the story of several characters from different countries together in today's Japan, including an Iranian architect. Asad Fooladkar, an Iranian-born filmmaker residing in Lebanon, will also participate in the festival with the film 'Halal Love'. Among the short films, young Iranian filmmakers from inside and outside Iran have a strong presence. Maryam Tafakori's film 'Poetry and Stone' attempts to capture an abstract image of Tehran. 'My Simple Story, You, and Mim' is another short film by Atefeh Yarmohammadi that tries to narrate the filmmaker's life within the context of today's Iranian history. 'Reminder of Pentagons' is another abstract short film by Azadeh Navaei, shot in 16mm, which attempts to translate times, places, and emotions into visual language with the poetry of Hafez and music from Bamdad Maleki, Marzieh Rahimzadeh, and Soheil Mokhaberi. The Rotterdam International Film Festival will continue until February 7.