Directed by Iranian director Mehdi Fard Ghaderi, the newest short film named "Autumn Leaves" is going to be screened at the Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF). Made in 2017, the film features Amir Shari’at and Bita Mosavar as its cast.

His previous film, immortality, has so far brought the 32 year old director awards at some international venues.

 Immortality opened the 10th Sofia Middle East & North Africa Region (MENAR) Film Festival two weeks ago on January 18. Before the film screening, the Cultural Counselor of the embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran in Sofia Hamidreza Azadi gave the opening speech and introduced the Iranian cinema and ‘Immortality’, with diplomats from various countries and Bulgarian authorities in attendance.

Immortality is about six families in different compartments of a train, moving through a rainy night. In a single, 145-minute take, the film depicts the families and how their lives are interwoven with each other. Vacillating between dream and reality, each story builds on the one before and leads into the next.

Immortality has vied at several international film festival and has won an award for the Best Drama Feature from 2017 Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival and the Best Feature Film Award from 2017 Ischia Film Festival.

Fard Ghaderi's other film, Story of a Rainy Night, narrates the story of an old man whose birthday is affected by the arrival of his family.

The 24-minute film has so far attended various international film festivals winning various prizes, including the Best Short Film Award in the US Hollywood Festival of New Cinema and Ohio’s Colony Film Festival, and the Best Short Film category of San Pedro International Film Festival.

The first film directed by Fard Ghaderi was Alternation which was a short film produced in 2008. After that he made another short in 2014; The Story of A Rainy Night.

The 1st Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) 2018 will provide a platform for such good narratives to be screened, and will chose the best amongst them. NIFF 2018 will be held in the lake city of Pokhara, from 2nd to 5th February 2018. NIFF 2018 is the successor to the International Film Festival of Nepal (IFFON) 2017 which was held in January 2017 in Dharan. NIFF 2018 will be the only event of this magnitude to be held in western Nepal.

/SR