News

’Under The Shadow’, ’Radio Dreams’ actors set for project from Dutch-Iranian Kaweh Modiri.

A cast of actors with Iranian roots whose credits include Under The Shadow, Radio Dreams and Fack Ju Göthe 2, have signed up for Dutch-Iranian Kaweh Modiri’s upcoming suspense drama Mitra.

Inspired by the director’s own family history, the project will be set between present day Netherlands and 1981 Tehran. 37 years after her daughter Mitra was executed in Iran and she fled her home country, Haleh leads a successful life as a renowned academic in the Netherlands. Her peaceful existence is shaken by the arrival of...

Here’s an exclusive look at Radio Dreams, the newest feature from Iranian-British director Babak Jalali (Frontier Blues), in theaters in May. Film centers on the real, if semi-functioning world of Pars-fm, a Farsi-language San Francisco radio station. Over the course of a single day, program manager Hamid – a brilliant, misunderstood Iranian writer, played by folk singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo, prepares for a live broadcast that will pair Metallica with Kabul Dreams…...

Exclusive: San Francisco-set comedy drama includes Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.

Iranian-British filmmaker Babak Jalali’s off-beat comedy Radio Dreams, which took the top prize at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) this year, has been racking up sales for Paris-based Reel Suspects.

The film has sold to Turkey (Mars Production), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Artcam), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), Ukraine (Kinove) and Australia and New Zealand (Darichech Cinema).

Set against the backdrop of the Iranian diaspora in San Francisco, the comedy revolves around an expat community radio station as it prepares for a guest performance by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich with Afghanistan’s first rock band Kabul Dreams.

Aside from Ulrich, the film also features Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo, who is sometimes referred to as the Bob Dylan of Iran, as a long-suffering head of programming at the cash-strapped studio.

The film is due to screeen at Seattle International Film Festival later this month...

Exclusive: Paris-based sales outfit adds Rotterdam premieres and sales manager.

Matteo Lovadina’s Paris-based sales outfit Reel Suspects has added two titles to its slate, both set to premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) later this week.

The first is Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito’s debut feature, Out Of Love, screening in Iffr’s Bright Future strand.

The film is the latest production from Dutch outfit Topkapi and is produced by company principals Frans van Gestel, Arnold Heslenfeld and Laurette Schillings.

The psycho-drama, about an intense relationship, is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Mediafund, CoBO, Ntr (part of De Oversteek), Netherlands Film Production Incentive, Media Programme of the European Union. Pim Hermeling’s September will release in the Netherlands.

Dutch-Chilean writer-director Valdebenito was nominated for best short film at the European Film Awards for her 2009 short Stay Away.

Topkapi are also the Dutch producers on Felix van Groeningen’s Sundance entry Belgica and partnered on van...