TEHRAN -- After all the tribulations “The Santur Player” has suffered at home, this controversial film will try its luck at an international gala in Prague.

The organizers of Music on Film - Film on Music (MOFFOM), an international festival of films with musical themes, have invited the production to enter the event, which will be held in Prague from October 18 to 22, producer Faramarz Farazmand said on Tuesday.
Director Dariush Mehrjuii is scheduled to attend the festival, he added.
“The Santur Player” is about a santur virtuoso and singer named Ali, who becomes a drug addict.
The film was scheduled to premier in Iran on July 18, but the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance postponed the screening for an indefinite time without giving any convincing explanation.
Officials of the ministry had already disapproved of its soundtracks sung by Iranian pop singer Mohsen Chavoshi and lip-synced by actor Bahram Radan who plays the role of Ali the santur virtuoso.
Consequently, the ministry refused to grant the film a screening license, arguing that Chavoshi had not obtained permission for recording the songs.
The songs were recorded again with Radan’s own voice and as a result the film was granted a screening license, but its premiere was postponed just three days before its scheduled screening.
An official of the ministry, who declined to be named, said that the decision to postpone the screening results from particular conditions prevailing in Iranian cinema.
The screening of the film was also postponed several times during the 25th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran last February and it was finally shown with its soundtracks censored