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War & Fleece: Seyyedi’s Swiftly Shifting Satire Explores the Corrupting Nature of Power

In one of the most unromanticized depictions of the filmmaking process, Iranian director Houman Seyyedi’s latest film, World War III is a slippery wonderland of competing forces. Initially a darkly satirical exploration of exploitation filmmaking as well as a castigation of working conditions in the Iranian film industry, Seyyedi takes off the comedy gloves for a grueling third act exercise in anguish and tragedy for a main protagonist who’s unwisely lived with his heart on his sleeve.

Both sharply conceived and agonizingly performed, Seyyedi, who has previously peddled in cultural degradation with his previous film Sheeple (2018), presents a hot blast of social issue semantics defined by a direct conduit with a criminal underbelly often downplayed significantly in modern Iranian cinema.…...

Having collected a star's following in a string of wild-man roles (I'm Not Angry!, Lantouri, Sheeple), young Iranian actor Navid Mohammadzadeh is sure to surprise his fans as a middle-aged, straitlaced martinet in The Warden. The character sees his plans for promotion threatened when, in the course of moving his inmates from one prison to another, one of them goes missing. Though there's little to do but order his guards to keep searching, Mohammadzadeh gives the one-note storyline a commanding presence and a pinch of dandyish irony. Festivals interested in Iranian subjects should be the first port of call.

Director ...

Having collected a star's following in a string of wild-man roles (I'm Not Angry!, Lantouri, Sheeple), young Iranian actor Navid Mohammadzadeh is sure to surprise his fans as a middle-aged, straitlaced martinet in The Warden. The character sees his plans for promotion threatened when, in the course of moving his inmates from one prison to another, one of them goes missing. Though there's little to do but order his guards to keep searching, Mohammadzadeh gives the one-note storyline a commanding presence and a pinch of dandyish irony. Festivals interested in Iranian subjects should be the first port of call.

Director ...

22nd edition of festival had its closing ceremony on Saturday (Dec 2).

Rubén Mendoza’s Colombia-France drama Wandering Girl scooped the top prize as the curtain came down last night on the 22nd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia.

The film, which had its world premiere in Tallinn, follows 12-year-old Angela and her three step-sisters who are approaching their thirties. The four meet for the first time when summoned for the death of their charismatic father. Daniel García produced.

The jury, which was headed by Italian director Andrea Pallaoro, cited the film for “powerfully exploring themes of grief and abandonment through a very moving,...