Italy’s Sapienza Film Festival to host Iran’s ‘Sami’
Iranian film ‘Sami,’ directed by Habib Bavi Sajed, was selected for the main competition of the second edition of the Oriental Kaleidoscope – Sapienza Film Festival, with the event set to run in Rome from March 4 to 7.
Held in the Italian capital under the banner “Everyday Life”, the festival focuses on independent productions from the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and across East and South-East Asia. The Rome-based showcase positions itself as a platform for films that rarely secure conventional distribution, giving space to character-driven narratives and low-budget cinema operating outside the mainstream circuit, IRNA reported.
‘Sami’ will compete against entries from Japan, Azerbaijan, Malaysia and China. It is the sole Iranian title in the running for the festival’s top prize.
The film has already built momentum on the international circuit. It won Best Screenplay at the 16th Kazan International Film Festival in Russia and was previously selected at the 16th Rome International Film Festival, as well as at the first Stockholm’s Hope International Film Festival and Morocco’s Nador International Film and Shared Memory Festival.
The drama follows a man who, two decades after his wife’s killing, refuses to accept her death, tracing the psychological toll of unresolved grief over time.
The cast includes Saeed Negravi, Mohammad Al Mehdi, Reza Nouri, Shaker Mousavi Nejad, Amineh Abiat, Mina Daghaghaleh, Taqi Alboukhanfar, Ali Mahmoud Fallahieh and Shahrokh Sakhiravi.