One of the surprises of the Venice Film Festival, greeted by thunderous applause, arrives in theaters with Bim from 8 March premiering in 90 cinemas and then from 4 April: Tatami co-directed by the Israeli director Guy Nattiv and the Iranian Zar Amir.
It's a courageous film, a hymn to women's freedom and a look at Iran that punishes them and it's no coincidence that it comes out in preview on March 8th, International Women's Day.
Not only that, it is also the first film co-directed by directors from Iran and Israel.
In this case the actress and director Zar Amir, who won at Cannes 2022 as best actress for Holy Spider, and the 2019 Oscar-winning director for the short film Skin.
In a thriller crescendo it tells the story of Arienne Mandi, a judoka threatened by the Iranian regime who wants to force her to withdraw from the world championships in Canada to avoid the final with a champion from the 'occupying country', Israel.
A narrative inspired by Sadaf Khadem, the first Iranian woman boxer: she took off her veil in 2019 during an international match and for this she had an arrest warrant from her country.
An immense courage for which Sadaf Khadem paid by taking refuge in exile in Paris, without abandoning boxing.
She has become one of the supporting voices of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
The idea of the compelling Tatami is to pay homage and make known the revolutionary gestures of many Iranian athletes in recent years, not only Sadaf Khadem but also Elnaz Rekabi, a rock climber who competed without wearing the hijab, aware of risking death at his return home;
Kimia Alizadeh, Iranian taekwondo prodigy who left the country with her husband due to government threats, and many still leave her.
And it is also a bridge, if not between the two countries, certainly between the two peoples.
In the film Arienne Mandi (which with director Guy Nattiv will be connected on March 8th for the preview in 90 cinemas at the special price of 3.50) is Leila Hosseini and Zar Amir is her coach Maryam.
During the world judo championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic which orders Leila to fake an injury and lose the competition, otherwise she will be branded a traitor to the state.
Seeing her freedom and that of her family threatened, Leila finds herself facing an impossible choice.
“We joined forces two hours away from Tel Aviv and Tehran, in Tbilisi, Georgia, to tell the story of courageous Iranian athletes who put their lives on the line for freedom. Israeli and Iranian artists found the their brothers and sisters met in art and discovered that they were actually very close and had many things in common, sharing art, aesthetics, cinema.
We believe - said Zar Amir and Guy Nattiv - that art is the voice of reasonableness that makes its way through the noise.
The story we decided to tell in this film is the story of too many artists and athletes forced to give up their dreams and, in some cases, forced to leave their countries and loved ones due to conflict between systems and governments.
Ultimately, we hope we have made a film that shows the world that humanity and brotherhood always win.
May this cinematic and artistic collaboration be a tribute to those artists and athletes and all the people who strive to see beyond the frenzy of blinding hatred and mutual destruction and who, despite all obstacles, build a future together." .
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