International premiere

Tooman

Local title
Tumaan
Original title
Tooman
Director
Morteza Farshbaf
Country
Iran
Year
2019
Programme
Official Selection - Competition

"Tooman" offers head-spinningly tense action in this story of two best friends, Aziz and Davood who work at a dairy factory. To escape the despondency of the surrounding life, they play FIFA at every opportunity.

Thanks to the men’s skills, FIFA is also an opportunity to find a way out of poverty, as the bets won in that game exceed their annual salary by several times. In addition to skills and wits, they have to risk with new bets every time and play with the money they have won in order to win the big prize. FIFA is just the beginning in a blinding race to strike it rich. The friends become a professional team whose hobby becomes everyday work, while they unnoticeably become addicted to gambling. In that closed circle, it is just a matter of time when family relations, friends’ trust and own life has to be put on the line.

"Tooman" incisively analyses the blinding power of money as well as the impossibility of living without it, doing it in the key of dramaturgical euphoria of winning, which is inevitably accompanied by the bitter taste of loss. With the masterful plot, the film’s screenwriter and director Morteza Farshbaf conveys a greater idea of the core essence and fundamental needs of a person. Interlaced with several deep-cutting subtopics, the drama takes on an epic dimension, while still managing to keep its pace and grip.

Elise Eimre

Director
Morteza Farshbaf
Screenwriter
Morteza Farshbaf
Cast
Mir Saied Molavian, Mojtaba Pirzadeh, Pardis Ahmadieh, Iman Sayad Borhani, Hamed Nejabat
Producer
Saeid Sa’adi, Saeid Malekan
DoP
Morteza Najafi
Editor
Mehdi Sa'adi
Music
Mohammadreza Heydari
Production
Farsh Film
Runtime
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Morteza Farshbaf

Morteza Farshbaf (snd 1986) on lõpetanud bakalaurusekraadiga Teherani Kunstiülikooli filmiteaduskonna ja asunud seejärel tegema filme nii stsenaristi, lavastaja, monteerija kui ka operaatorina. Ta on teinud mitu lühifilmi ja töötanud koos Iraani suurkuju Abbas Kiarostamiga. Nii tema esimene mängufilm „Lein“ (2010) kui ka teine film „Laviin“ (2015) on osalenud PÖFFil ja pälvinud maailmas laialdast tähelepanu. „Tooman“ on Farshbafi kolmas mängufilm.

Soog (Lein, PÖFF 2010), Avalanche (Laviin, PÖFF 2015), Tooman (2019)

Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn

Q&A with the filmmaker