TEHRAN – Iranian director Mohammad Qanefard announced on Wednesday that he will launch a festival in the Italian city of Milan in November to screen movies from Iranian filmmakers living around the world.

The first edition of the event named “Nostalgia Film Festival” will be held from November 1 to 3, said Qanefard whose documentary “The Last Supper” about the Christian victims of the Syrian civil war, has been screened in several international festivals.

The festival plans to screen those Iranian movies, which have won great public acclaim in the country.

“In addition, the festival mostly intends to focus on films that are ignored in Iran or do not get an opportunity to be screened at Iranian or international festivals. For example, many Iranian comedy films are not admitted into foreign festivals,” he added.

“Organizing a festival in Europe is an easy task; on the contrary, the huge bureaucracy in Iran limits such a move,” he noted.

Italian filmmaker Lia Giovanazzi is the artistic director of the festival, which will be organized in collaboration with the Cineclub Vittorio De Sica, whose president Armando Lostaglio is an executive member of the event.

The organizers have introduced the event as an “independent Iranian film festival in the north of Italy, with no affiliation to any political or religious organizations.”

Saeid Rustai’s drama “Just 6.5”, Nima Javidi’s drama “The Warden” and Manuchehr Hadi’s comedy “Rahman 1400” are among the films that will be screened at the festival.

Photo: A poster for the 1st Nostalgia Film Festival. 

MMS/YAW