The Iranian Film Festival of Australia (IFFA) returns in 2023 after being forced to pause in 2022, with screenings taking place across Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth from November 16 to December 13.

Of the 13 films to be presented, there are eleven Australian premieres and both the 2023 UK and the 2024 Iranian official entries for the Academy Awards, as well as six award-winning shorts. The festival will also feature a retrospective honouring acclaimed director Dariush Mehruji who was tragically in October.

Opening this year’s festival is Faeze Azizkhani’s The Locust, which follows Hanieh, a forty-year-old woman who has written a film script based on her own life. Now she is faced with the judgment of the others who call her ’bastard’. The film stars Pegah Ahangarani, who has now left Iran and Hanieh Tavassoli who was temporarily detained this year because of her political remarks on social media but has recently been released.

The event will conclude with Hassan Nazzer’s Winners, set in a small provincial Iranian town, where the children work hard to support their families. One day nine-year-old Yahya and his friend Leyla find a precious statue. Sharing a passion for cinema, Yahya’s boss decides to help them find the owner.

The Iranian Film Festival of Australia 2023 screens in the following locations:
Sydney: November 16 – 22, Dendy Newtown
Canberra: November 17 – 19, NFSA ARC cinema
Melbourne: November 23 – 29, Cinema Nova
Brisbane: November 30 – December 6, Elizabeth Pic Theatre
Adelaide: December 1 – 3, Mercury Cinema
Perth: December 7 – 13, Luna Cinema Leederville