The 6th annual Iranian Film Festival in San Francisco is yearly event showcasing independent features and short films made by, or about, Iranians from around the world, created by iranianfilmfestival.org, an organization that is busy “discovering the next generation of Iranian filmmakers”.

“Aside from many premieres, [this year] we have found two lost films which we are doing some restoration on,”  IFF representative, Mitra, says. “One, which is [from] about 40 years ago is called “Rounama Dance”. The other, is a film made in Iran, in 1966, which was shown once in Iran and has never been seen again. Also, as of this year we will also unveil our new award, the “Sepanta Award”, in honor of Sepanta, the father of talkies [talking pictures] in Iranian cinema.”

There will be 36 films screened at this year’s festival, held at San Francisco Art Institute, including: “Carjack“, an action-thriller short film starring UK-born-Iranian actor, Marsh Mokhtari.

“I’m very proud of the film,” Mokhtari, who will be present at the film festival this year for the Q&A session after the screening of his movie, tells Persianesque. “I was honored and excited to share  with my fellow Iranian filmmakers, [who continue to make] some great films: Let’s all support each other and continue to make wonderful, thought provoking films.

“My next film is called “Blood Brothers” and it’s also an action-thriller about best friends, the outdoors, infidelity and the explosive consequences.”

The Iranian Film Festival San Francisco will be held on Sept. 28th-29th, 2013.

Screening Schedule

Saturday, September 28, 2013

11:00 AM No Burqas Behind Bars [77] + Parvaneh [25] = 102 minutes
1:00 PM It’s a Dream [92] + Why this phone doesn’t ring? [8] = 100 minutes
3:00 PM  Simin [57] + Horaman [13] + Beyond Dead [15] + When the Curtain Falls [6] + Hannaneh [11] = 102 minutes
5:00 PM Poppy is Also a Flower 100 minutes
7:00 PM  Meeting Leila [88] + Silk* [16] = 104 minutes
9:20 PM Parviz [107] + Shirin & Farhad [2] = 109 minutes

Sunday, September 29, 2013

11 AM Shorts Program: Two & Two [10] + Charisma [10] + Traveler [4] + Red Line [8] + Forget Me Not Egg [28] + Needle [17] + After the Class [12] + Why Not Kill a Fly [5] = 96 minutes
1:10 PM For Shahrzad [75] + More than Two Hours [15] + Alzheimer [8] = 98 minutes
3:10 PM Pulp Farsi [56] + Lady Tehran* [9] + Carjack* [17] + Arefi* [9] = 91 minutes
5:25 PM Ambrosia [79] + Girl in the Lemon Factory [8] + Return [12] = 99 minutes
7:25 PM Just Like a Woman [88] + Rounama Dance [18] = 106 minutes
9:30 PM Everything is Fine Here [75] + Turn [4] 79 minutes

*Click here  to buy tickets.