TEHRAN – Award-winning Iranian drama “Ballad of a White Cow” has begun its Spanish premiere.

Surtsey Films, a Madrid-based company is distributing the film under the title of “Le Perdon” (“The Forgiveness”).

Forty theaters in the county are currently screening the co-production between Iran and France co-directed by Behtash Sanaeiha and Maryam Moqaddam.

Moqaddam also plays the leading character, Mina, a woman whose life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband Babak was innocent of the crime for which he was executed. 

The authorities apologize for the mistake and offer the prospect of financial compensation. Mina starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter’s sake. Just as her money is running out, a stranger named Reza knocks at her door, saying he has come to repay a debt he owed to Babak. Mina is guarded at first, but increasingly lets Reza into her life, unaware of the secret that ties them to one another.

Written by Sanaeiha, Moqaddam and Mehrdad Kuroshnia, the film has been screened at over 30 international festivals, including the SEMINCI – Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain.

The festival granted its Pilar Miró Prize for the best new director to the film, which also won the award for best narrative feature at the Der Neue Heimatfilm Festival in Austria.

German distribution outfit Weltkino has purchased the German and Austrian rights to “Ballad of a White Cow”, which began its premiere in these countries on February 3.

Movie theaters in Sweden, Portugal, Czech, Slovakia, Japan and several other countries have begun screening the film produced at Caractères Productions, a production company based in Paris.

Totem Films, a Paris-based international sales and production company, has purchased the rights to sell “Ballad of a White Cow”.

Photo: A scene from “Ballad of a White Cow”.

MMS/YAW