Avant-première : The Siren (Faces of Iran)

Avant-première : The Siren (Faces of Iran)

Avant-première, in collaboration with BAC Films

The Siren

La Sirène France-Luxembourg-Allemagne 2023 | Sepideh Farsi | vo farsi stEN | 100’ | digital | Cast : Hamidreza Djavdan, Mina Kavani | Co-production avec BAC Films (Luxembourg)

► Eröffnungsfilm Panorama,Berlin 2023

1980. After an Iraqi missile strike, the Iranian oil metropolis Abadan descends into chaos. Fourteen-year-old Omid, who works as a food delivery boy, is searching for his missing brother – and for an escape route out of the besieged city.

« Using clean lines, a controlled color palette and a flattened 2D drawing style, Sepideh Farsi’s engrossing The Siren paradoxically creates a story rich with dimensional detail and riven with the tragedy of war. It’s also undeniably moving, as our protagonist Omid comes to realize that not all heroics in war are performed by soldiers with guns. » (Variety)

« The picture looks terrific – Zaven Najjar’s design and animation uses a stripped-back colour palette of earthy sand tones and dusty blues, accented with arresting slashes of red, to powerful effect. But equally powerful is the use of music throughout, in particular the recurring motif of a drum that links Omid to the memory of his late father, and to the inherited survivor’s spirit that may just be the key to his escape from the besieged city. » (ScreenDaily)

► Meet the filmmaker

The director and a part of the crew will attend the screening.