The Honar Shahr Aftab Cineplex in Shiraz is hosting a wide range of Q&A sessions, film discussions, and masterclasses, starting Thursday, 27 November.
The opening day’s sessions will be moderated by Vahid Ronaghi. At 16:15, the festival will hold a discussion on “Bassima’s Womb” (Babek Aliassa, Canada), followed at 16:45 by the session for “The Song Sustxotin” (Khusnora Rozmatova, Uzbekistan).
At 17:15, the special program “A Night with Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky” will take place, followed by Q&A sessions for “He Doesn’t Sleep” (Reza Jamali, Iran) and “Water Lilies” (Chanho Lee, South Korea) at 18:30 and 19:15, respectively.
On Friday, 28 November, starting at 14:15, Goftegoo Hall will host 30-minute discussions for the following films: “Pavane for an Infant” (Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia/Hong Kong), “I Will Come” (Bulat Sabitov, Russia), “Valley of Exile” (Anna Fahr, Canada/Lebanon), “In Pursuit of Spring” (Ayub Shahobiddinov, Uzbekistan), “River Returns” (Masakazu Kaneko, Japan), and “Deal at the Border” (Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi, Kyrgyzstan).
A special session titled “Contemporary Turkish Cinema” follows at 17:15, with a discussion of “A Time in Eternity” (Mehdi Norowzian, Iran) at 18:30.
Q&A programs continue on Saturday, 29 November, beginning at 14:15 with sessions for “Chang’an, Xi’an” (Zhang Zhong, China/Iran), “Beyond the Rails” (Cenk İzgören, Turkey), “Pyre” (Vinod Kapri, India), “The Other Side” (Indu Lakshmi, India), “Endless Land” (Vasilis Mazomenos, Greece), and “Fish on the Hook” (Muhiddin Muzaffar, Iran/Tajikistan).
At 17:15, a masterclass by Greek writer and director Angelos Frantzis on the Poetic Cinema of Greece will be held, followed by discussions of “Two Faces of Autumn” (Ronak Taher, Iran) at 18:30 and “Riverstone” (Lalith Rathnayake, Sri Lanka) at 19:15.
On Sunday, 30 November, the day opens at 14:15 with a masterclass by Iranian writer and director Hatef Alimardani titled “Poetic Filmmaking.” Q&A sessions for “Creating A Man” (Murat Çeri, Turkey), “Calm Man” (Behnoush Sadeghi, Iran), and “March to May” (Martin Pavol Repka, Czech Republic) will follow at 16:15. Discussions for “After Being in Love” (Mohammed Ali Safoora, Iran) and “Anywhere Anytime” (Milad Tangshir, Italy) are scheduled for 18:30 and 19:15.
The final day of the festival’s meetings, Monday, 1 December, includes Q&A sessions for “Catane” (Ioana Mischie, Romania/Italy) at 16:15 and “Angels Don’t Die” (Mohammad Reza Abolhasani, Iran) at 16:45. At 17:15, Iranian film critic, scholar, and researcher Parviz Jahed will conduct a masterclass titled “Independent Poetic Cinema in Iran & the World.” The last two Q&A sessions—“The Bridge” (Mohammad Asgari, Iran) and “Round 13” (Mohamed Ali Nahdi, Tunisia)—will take place at 18:30 and 19:15, respectively.
The 43rd Fajr International Film Festival, directed by Rouhollah Hosseini, runs from 26 November to 3 December 2025.
