Films from the Middle East, such as the Iranian “The Rain Falls Where It Will” and “Daily Massacre in Tehran”, will compete at this year’s 42nd Durban International Film Festival, which takes place in Durban, South Africa, from July 22 to August 1.
“The Rain Falls Where It Will” will be competing in the feature film competition. Directed by Majid Barzegar, the film is about Sara, who works as an experienced and respected nurse in Tehran’s busiest hospitals. She discreetly takes the life of her patients who have lost all chance of recovery. Everything seems to be going well until she is assigned to look after a private patient at his seaside villa.
Hessam Hamidi’s film “Daily Massacre in Tehran” has been selected for the short film competition. It tells the story of Fuad, a 12-year-old boy from one of the outlying cities, who has come to the capital city to help support his mother’s living expenditures as well as those linked with her illness.
He is willing to work any job and start any business, including slaughtering roosters, sifting through garbage, and hauling loads. However, when he engages in each work, he runs into obstacles and difficulties.
The Durban International Film Festival is one of five festivals hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. Among the others is the Time of the Writer festival, the JOMBA! Dance festival, Poetry Africa, and Artfluence Human Rights events. The Centre for Creative Arts, housed in the University’s School of the Arts, is a multi-disciplinary centre that recognizes the arts’ power and agency in bringing about social change.
The festivals, which are aligned with the university’s academic goal, play an essential role in knowledge development through teaching, learning, and research.
The Durban Film Festival serves as a booster of the film industry, providing networking and cultural interaction opportunities. During a time of war and significant racial tensions, it was established as a safe environment for intellectual and artistic dialogue to start conversations that spark innovation and examine the world we live in and the lenses through which history is portrayed. It continues to do so, addressing current issues through a variety of programs and industry collaborations.
