“Ward No. 6”, an updated adaptation of Chekhov’s famous short story set in a provincial Russian mental hospital, has been submitted by Russian directors Karen Shakhnazarov and Alexander Gornovsky.

Taiwanese director Leon Dai has made application to the festival for screening his “I Cannot Live without You”, a real-life drama about a father struggling for a better life for his daughter.

Directed by Klaus Haro from Finland, “Letters to Father Jacob”, an inspiring story about faith and human frailty, is a submission for the Spiritual Films section of the Fajr festival, which will take place in Tehran from January 25 to February 4.

The three films are also submissions for this year’s foreign-language Academy Award.

“The Dust of Time” by Greek filmmaker Theodoros Angelopoulos, “Welcome” by French director Philippe Lioret, and “Looking for Eric” by British director Ken Loach have previously been submitted to the festival.

The organizers of the event, which is Iran’s most prestigious gala in the motion picture industry, have also established a special section this year for featuring anti-Western imperialism films.

Eleven films including Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War”, Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah”, and Michael Winterbottom’s “The Road to Guantanamo” are scheduled to be shown at this section.

MMS/YAW

END

MNA