Under the Skin of the City
Documentary, 74 min, Color, 4K, 2:1, 16:9, 5.1, stereo, Persian and Dari, 2024, Iran
Synopsis
This is a film about the life of a woman. Tuba, who works in a weaving factory, is carrying the burden of her husband and four children on her shoulder and trying to make a better life for her children, what she couldn’t have so far. Her eldest son, Abbas, is so worried about the mother and is searching for a better work, hopeful for a better condition for the family. But he makes the family’s condition worse, and puts everyone in trouble…
Cast & Crew
Director Rakhshan Banietemad
Screenwriters Rakhshan Banietemad & Farid Mostafavi
Director of Photography Hossein Jafarian
Production Design Omid Mohit
Editor Mostafa Khergheh- Poush
Sound Asghar Shahverdi
Producers Rakhshan Banietemad, Jahangir Kosari
Cast Golab Adineh,Mohammad-Reza Forutan, Baran Kosari
DIRECTOR’S Statement
Rakhshan Banietemad, born in 1954 Tehran, began to make documentaries for the Iranian National Television in 1979, right after graduating from the University of Dramatic Arts, Tehran. From 1979 to 1987, she focused on making only documentaries. In 1987, she directed her first feature film “Off the Limits”. In 1991, she became the first woman recipient of the Best Director award for “Nargess” at Fajr International Film Festival in Iran. In 1995, she won the Bronze Leopard for The Blue Veiled at the Locarno Film Festival. “Under the Skin of the City”, her next film, was the highest grossing film in Iran in 2000. This film along with “Gilaneh” (2005) and “Mainline” (2006), garnered major awards in more than 50 film festivals. Also “Tales” won the Best Screenplay award in the main competition of Venice International Film Festival in 2014.
While Banietemad’s feature films have been acclaimed and honored worldwide, her documentaries have also been successful and popular internationally. “Our Times…”, was the first documentary ever to be released in the movie theaters in Iran in 2002. It was also screened in highly prestigious and prominent festivals and TV channels such as IDFA, Sundance Film Festival and ARTE.
From 2013 to 2017, she mentored six documentaries, which were well received by the public and contributed to a positive perception of the genre.
In 2008, she received an honorary doctorate from University of London, in 2010, she was awarded the Prix Henri Langlois from Vincennes International Film Festival.
She has joined the Academy Oscar, Writers branch in 2017.