HAFEZ

Hafez was the greatest love poet in Persian culture. Born 700 years ago, he embodies the conflict between the orthodoxy of the Koranic schools, the deep mysticism of the Dervishes and the laic freedom of contemporary Iran. Iranian director Abolfazi Jalili wanted to pay tribute to Hafez, transporting his story to the present day and recounting an event in which love was the absolute star. In the film Hafez is a particularly bright child who managed to finish his studies at only 17, brilliantly passing all his exams in theology. This induces the Great Mufti, spiritual guide of the city, to ask him to give private lessons to his daughter Nabat. Hafez accepts, despite the fact that he is forbidden to look at the girl. Discussing religion, philosophy and poetry, however, the two young people begin to feel very strongly about one another.

the filmmaker

Abolfazi Jalili was born in 1957 in Saveh, in the heartland of Iran. In 1979 he went to work for Iranian television, creating shorts and documentaries. In 1983 he directed his first feature film, Milad. His fourth film, Det means Girl (1994) won the Osella d’oro at the 1995 Venice Film Festival, and in 1988 he won the Pardo d’argento at the Locarno Film Festival with Dance of Dust. Delbaran, in which actual Afghan refugees performed, won the Gran Prix at the Trois Continents Festival in Nantes.