Section
Original title
World War III
Synopsis
A satirical drama about a poor man, Shakib, who on a makeshift set of a film about the Holocaust, ends up replacing the main actor by complete chance. When his girlfriend Ladan hides on the set to flee from her tormentors, everything begins to precipitate. In a crescendo of humiliation and abuse, the oppressed hero will end up by imitating his oppressors in a black comedy which gradually takes on the tones of a tragedy.
Cast
Mohsen Tanabande, Mahsa Hejazi, Neda Jebreili, Navid Nosrati
Films Distribution
Iranian Independents
Production
Houman Seyedi
Editing
Houman Seyedi
Cinematography
Houman Seyedi, Arian Vazir Daftari, Azad Jafarian
Editing
Houman Seyedi
Language
Farsi
Subtitles
English, Italian
Premiere
--
Main awards
Best Film, Best Actor (Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti 2022), Jury Special Award (Tokyo Film Festival 2022), FIPRESCI Award (Stockholm Film Festival 2022), Special Jury Award and Best Actor Award (Los Angeles Asian Cinema Festival 2022)
Biography
Houman Seyedi was born in Rasht in 1980. He has worked on many film and theatre productions in Iran as an actor, including Firework Wednesday by Asghar Farhadi. He is the director of one of the most important film schools in Iran, teaching acting and forming a new generation of young actors. He has made several short films and in 2011 his first feature film, Africa, obtained several international distinctions. World War III had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section.
Filmography
2022 – World War III, ff
2018 – Sheeple, ff
2016 – The Sound and the Fury, ff
2015 – Confessions of My Dangerous Mind, ff
2013 – 13, ff
2011 – Africa, ff
2010 – Asghar Peykan, His Wife and A Little More unconventional Life, sf
2009 – All My Personal Belongings, Moved, sf
2008 – 35 Meter Over the Water, sf
2007 – Blue-Tooth, sf