‘Black Rabbit, White Rabbit’ to vie in Chicago competition
Iranian Director Shahram Mokri’s latest feature ‘Black Rabbit, White Rabbit’ has been picked for the main competition at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, running from October 15 to 26 in the US.
The film, written by Mokri with screenwriter Nasim Ahmadpour, is produced by Negar Eskandarfar and features veteran actor Babak Karimi alongside Hasti Mahmaei. It will vie with 13 other entries, including François Ozon’s ‘The Stranger’ from France, Radu Jude’s ‘Kontinental '25’ from Romania and Milagros Mumenthaler’s ‘The Currents,’ a Swiss-Argentine co-production.
‘Black Rabbit, White Rabbit’ follows a woman who, after surviving a car accident, begins to sense uncanny shifts in her surroundings. Filmed in Tajikistan with a mixed Iranian and Tajik cast, it is performed in Persian, Tajik and Russian. The film is a joint production of Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, with global distribution handled by Dreamlab, the international sales company led by Nasrin Mirshab.
The Chicago screening comes weeks after the movie’s world premiere on September 21 at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival, where it appears in the competitive “Vision” section. Mokri’s work is also set for the main competition of the 69th BFI London Film Festival in October.
Mokri is known for his experimental narrative style and long takes in films such as ‘Fish & Cat’ (2013), which won a prize in Venice, and ‘Careless Crime’ (2020). In ‘Black Rabbit, White Rabbit,’ he again explores altered perceptions of reality. “We wanted to show how reality can suddenly feel unfamiliar and uncanny,” he said in an interview about the project.