Award-winning filmmakers launch project on Minab school tragedy
Iranian filmmakers Manouchehr Mohammadi and Babak Khajehpasha are developing a new feature film centered on martyred schoolchildren from the southern city of Minab in US-Israeli attack on February 28, following their previous collaboration on an award-winning film about children in Gaza, a producer said on Sunday.
Mohammad Sasan, head of the Soureh Cinema Production Center, said the project, tentatively titled “168”, is being produced by the Soureh Cinema Organization in partnership with veteran producer Mohammadi and director Khajehpasha.
The film will focus on children linked to a school tragedy in Minab, Sasan said, adding that the project is intended for international audiences and will be developed with a cross-border perspective similar to the filmmakers' previous work, “The Land of Angels”.
"We are currently conducting research and working with a creative team to finalize the screenplay," Sasan said. Further details will be announced at a later stage, he added.
Mohammadi and Khajehpasha previously collaborated on “The Land of Angels”, a film depicting the hardships faced by children in Gaza. The film received widespread attention at Iran's 44th Fajr International Film Festival, where it won five Crystal Simorgh awards and eight honorary diplomas, making it the festival's most decorated entry.
No production timetable or casting details for “168” were immediately announced.
On the very first day of the unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition on February 28, US Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.