Rhino Season / Fasle Kargadan ha
Iraq, Turky / 2012 / 103 min.
Director: Bahman GHOBADI
[Introduction]
"Rhino Season", based on the life of Kurdish poet Sadegh KAMANAGAR, is the latest film from Bahman GHOBADI, who shot it in Turkey due to his ongoing exile from his homeland since directing "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (09). Poet Sahel is arrested and incarcerated for releasing anti-revolutionary poetry during the Islamic Revolution. His wife Mina eagerly awaits his release but is eventually informed that he has died in prison, and starts a new life. Sahel, who is actually still alive, is released 30 years later and begins to search for Mina... GHOBADI's characteristically powerful magical realist imagery permeates the entire film and overwhelms the viewer. Behrouz VOSSOUGHI, who plays Sahel, was one of the top stars of pre-revolutionary Iranian film and is known for his appearances in Masud KIMIAI's "Gheisar" (69) and Amir NADERI's "Tight Spot" (73). Although he had effectively retired from screen acting, he makes a dramatic comeback in this film. Italian superstar Monica BELLUCCI gives a passionate performance as his wife Mina. Screened in competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Bahman GHOBADI
Born in 1968 in Iranian Kurdistan. Made numerous short films since his student days, of which "Lie in the Fog" (99) received the Special Jury Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Worked as assistant director on Abbas KIAROSTAMI's "The Wind Will Carry Us" (99) before making his feature directorial debut with "A Time for Drunken Horses" (00), which won the Cannes Film Festival's Camera d'Or and gained him international recognition. His next feature "The Songs of My Motherland" (02) was screened in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section, and "Turtles Can Fly" (04) won the Golden Shell for Best Film at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, as well as the Special Jury Prize and agnes b. Award at TOKYO FILMeX 2004. After directing "Half Moon" (06) and "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (09), he was forced into a state of exile that continues to this day.
＜Chairperson of the Jury＞
SABU,JAPAN / Director,Actor
＜The jury＞
Dan FAINARU,Israel / Film Critic
HATA Shoko,Japan / Film Critic
Fatemeh MOTAMED-ARYA,Iran / Actress
Valerie-Anne CHRISTEN,FRANCE / Head of the uniFrance films Tokyo Office
