‘Waiting’ heads to Japan’s Sapporo film festival
Iranian short film ‘Waiting’, directed by Amir Rooini, was officially selected to compete at the 20th Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Market, organizers announced.
The festival will run from October 10 to 13 in Sapporo, northern Japan, ILNA reported.
The Sapporo event, recognized as a Canadian Screen Award-qualifying festival, is among Asia’s most prominent short film markets.
‘Waiting’ is the only Iranian entry in this year’s lineup, standing out from a crowded field of international submissions. The film centers on two schoolboys, Navid and Hamid, who anxiously wait every day for their parents at the school gate — a routine that unsettles Hamid more than Navid.
Rooini’s 2023 production has already made the rounds at 13 international festivals, including the 25th Santa Fe Film Festival in the US, the seventh FilmKörbes in Germany, and the 17th Media Film Festival in Pennsylvania.
It took home the Jury’s Special Prize at Taiwan’s Chiayi Film Festival and clinched Best Short Film at Madeira Curtas in Portugal. The film was also screened in Bulgaria's Quarantine Film Festival and the 21st Patheos Festival in the US.
Rooini has described the film as a story about “childhood fear and quiet desperation,” unfolding through the silent routine of waiting. The narrative, told in a sparse visual style, offers “more questions than answers,” reflecting the emotional ambiguity of the boys' daily ordeal.