TEHRAN -- The Iranian films “Poet of the Wastes” and “Border Café”, also known as “Café Transit” have been competing in various sections of the 29th Goteborg Film Festival in Sweden, which began on January 27 and ends today.

Directed by Mohammad Ahmadi, “Poet of the Wastes” is the story of a street cleaner who discovers secrets of the neighborhood by collecting the residents’ garbage. He thus gets involved in a number of adventures.

An entry to the First Cut section of the festival, this film had previously participated in the non-competition section of the Festival of Festivals at the 24th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran in January.

“Border Café” is about Reyhan, an Iranian widow and mother of two young children who reopens the roadhouse formerly run by her husband, but since managing such a business is forbidden for women, she encounters much resistance, particularly from her conservative brother-in-law, Nasser, whose only aim is to marry Reyhan, despite already having one wife.

“Border Café”, which was written and directed by Kambuzia Partovi, is an entry to the Worldwide section of the festival. This film had previously won the best screenplay awards at the 23rd Fajr International Film Festival in February 2005 and the 9th Iran Cinema Celebration last September. Fereshteh Sadr-Orafaii also won the best actress awards of the abovementioned Iranian film galas for her role in the film.

The Goteborg Film Festival is the biggest public cinematic event in Scandinavia. Each year, about 400 films are screened for 110,000 visitors.