Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi traveled to South Korea for the Busan International Film Festival premiere of his latest feature, “Midday Meal,” despite initial reluctance due to the geopolitical situation. The director stated he decided to attend believing his film could convey a message from the Iranian people to the international community. His visit occurred amid a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and sweeping sanctions targeting Iranian aviation.
At the festival, Majidi made forceful statements about civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations in Iran. He cited specific figures regarding damaged homes and deaths, including an elementary school bombing in Minab that killed 156 civilians, of whom 120 were schoolchildren. A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded in September that U.S. forces were likely responsible for the Minab strike and characterized it as a war crime. The Trump State Department rejected the credibility of the report.
“Midday Meal” has positioned itself as a potential contender for the festival’s top prize. The film tells the story of Davoud Soulan, a contract teacher in an impoverished village in southeastern Iran’s Chabahar region. When the wealthy benefactor funding the school’s meal program dies and his heirs discontinue the charity, Soulan faces a crisis. With enrollment threatened and his long-anticipated permanent position at risk, he begins using his own meager savings and turns to fuel smuggling to continue feeding the students.
Majidi has built a career documenting stories of marginalized families and children, frequently employing nonprofessional actors discovered through regional casting. His prior works include “Children of Heaven” (1997), which became the first Iranian film nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign-language category, and “Sun Children” (2020), which competed at Venice. For “Midday Meal,” cinematographer Houman Behmanesh collaborated with Majidi to capture the Chabahar region’s distinctive landscape, which features formations colloquially known as Iran’s “Martian Mountains.” The director explained that the stark geography inspired his decision to employ aerial drone cinematography to emphasize the protagonist’s isolation.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI