23rd Iranian Film Festival (MFAH Screenings): Melbourne

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the 23rd Houston Iranian Film Festival January 22 – February 2, 2016.

For the 23rd edition of the longest-running MFAH film festival, the Museum is honored by the presence of actress Fatemeh Motamed Arya. She is scheduled to attend a rare, Tuesday-night screening on February 2, accompanied by her husband, actor Ahmad Hamed.

Another highlight of this year’s festival is a new documentary about artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, who is represented in the Museum’s permanent collection.

The Houston Iranian Film Festival continues at Asia Society Texas Center and Rice Cinema.

Film selections were made in collaboration with Tom Vick of the Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Smithsonian Institution’s museums of Asian art; Carter Long of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Barbara Scharres of the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

Melbourne
Directed by Nima Javidi
2014, in Farsi with English subtitles
Iran, 93 minutes
DCP

Variety exclaims, “This remarkable debut transcends cultural barriers with its compellingly universal and thoroughly engrossing premise.” Indeed, this drama—starring Payman Moaadi (A Separation) and Negar Javaherian as a couple moving to Australia for graduate studies—offers an unnerving tone reminiscent of Hitchcock.

As they prepare, characters come and go, while the hustle and bustle hides a dreadful reality. Suddenly, the couple is plunged into a craftily orchestrated nightmare that offers no easy solutions.

“Melbourne is intimate, it’s frightening, and yet only so because of the deep human questions it asks of the audience.” —The Huffington Post

Additional support is provided by the Society of Iranian-American Women for Education (SIAWE) and the Iranian Cultural Foundation-Houston.