A DRAGON ARRIVES! (EJHDEHA VARED MISHAVAD!) World Cinema

A densely layered, postmodern pastiche of disparate genres and perspectives, Mani Haghighi’s A DRAGON ARRIVES! reenacts the confounding circumstances surrounding the 1965 suicide of an exiled political prisoner, whose body is found in an abandoned shipwreck on a remote desert island. A bright orange Chevrolet Impala announces the arrival of suave police inspector Babak Hafizi. His investigation is quickly diverted when, dismissing local folklore, he buries the body in the ancient cemetery adjacent, prompting a mysteriously localized earthquake. Hafizi then calls in a geologist and an eccentric sound engineer to investigate the quake. What follows is an increasingly fantastic string of events featuring an expansive network of characters, extending to Haghighi’s own grandfather, Iranian New Wave filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan. Integrating political allegory with personal history, Haghighi adds a uniquely absurdist voice to a continuing exploration into the nature of truth in cinema. — Malin Kan

Born in Tehran in 1969, Mani Haghighi’s films include ABADAN (2004), MEN AT WORK (2006) and CANAAN (2008). He has also acted in several films, including Asghar Farhadi’s ABOUT ELLY (2009), as well as his own film, MODEST RECEPTION (2012). A DRAGON ARRIVES!, his sixth feature, competed for the Golden Bear at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.

The Match Factory GmbH

Details

Country: Iran

Year: 2016

Director: Mani Haghighi

Screenwriter: Mani Haghighi

Producer: Mani Haghighi

Executive Producers: Mehdi Davari, Chavosh Shirani, Lili Golestan, Taraneh Alidoosti, Alireza Bazel, Mani Haghighi

Director of Photography: Houman Behmanesh

Editor: Hayedeh Safiyari

Production Designer: Amir Hossein Ghodsi

Music: Christophe Rezai

Cast/Featuring: Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol, Nader Fallah, Ali Bagheri, Kamran Safamanesh, Javad Ansari

Running Time (minutes): 107 min

Language: Farsi

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