TEHRAN – Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi will be making a drama series on coronavirus, which will be released by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

The series has been titled “Empathizer”, the director Of IRIB studio Sima Films, Behrang Malek-Mohammadi, announced on Saturday. 

Malek-Mohammadi added that the filmmaking crew has had several meetings with the IRIB Health Channel to better review the events and the aftermath of the new virus. 

He said that the story of the series is set in a hospital and added, “The series narrates three parallel stories: one is about a nurse, one is about the son of a businessman, and one is about a young team of researchers.”

“The characters enter the hospital based on a series of events, but their attitudes towards different issues change while in the hospital, leading to changes in their decisions in their lives,” he explained.

He noted that the series will be reflecting the current condition of the society in the hard coronavirus days. 

“After the spread of coronavirus in the country, we have witnessed a big sacrifice by the healthcare staff, and the series will make its utmost efforts to portray part of their sacrifices over the past months,” he said.

“The sympathy of people to help the needy people during the coronavirus days, and the charity teams producing face masks for health workers combatting the coronavirus observed in every corner of the city are among the main motivations for the crew to make this series,” he concluded.

The 15-episode series will be aired during winter. 

“A Few Cubic Meters of Love” was the Mahmudi brothers’ first film, which was selected for screening in the official competition section of the Fajr Film Festival in 2014.

Their drama “To Die in the Pure Water” also competed in the official competition of the 38th edition of the festival in January 2020.

Their “Rona, Azim’s Mother” won the Ecumenical Film Prize at the 68th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in November 2019.

The film also received the Cultural Diversity Award under the Patronage of UNESCO at the 13th Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, Australia also in November 2019.

Photo: Tehran-based Afghan brothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi in an undated photo.

RM/MMS/YAW