An encounter with Zara Razi: “Majid Majidi, film director of Sun Children“

Casa Asia holds this meeting with Zara Razi on the occasion of the premiere in Spain of Sun Children, a film directed by the Iranian film director Majid Majidi, winner of the Magic Lantern Award at the Venice Film Festival. The film is just been released in Spain by Caramel Films. 

“Sun Children is the story of  some children who are forced to work to maintain their families. To date, there are 152 million children in this situation. International organizations are waging a desperate fight to help abused young people who lack the human right of education”.

Ali, the protagonist, and his three friends, work hard to survive and provide for their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to earn quick money. In a turn of events that seem miraculous, Ali is requested with finding a treasure hidden underground.

The filmmaker Majid Majidi, born in Tehran in 1959, is part of the New Wave of Iranian filmmakers that emerged after the Islamic Revolution. Born into a middle-class family, from a young age he showed his interest in acting. His film Children of Heaven (1997), became the first film from Iran to receive the nomination for Best Foreing Language Film at the Oscars.

Zara Razi is the President of the Hispanic Persina Film Association, which since 2016 has aimed to make Iranian cinema known in Spain and Latin America. She has a doctorate in jounalism from the Complutense University of Madrid, and has completed a master’s degree in Social Communication at the same university, and another one at the Central University of Venezuela. Her doctoral thesis has been on Iranian cinema, a subject on which she has written several texts and she has organized seminars, such as the webinar A look at the camera by Majid Majidi, which has recently taken place with the collaboration of Casa Asia.

Presents and moderates:

Menene Gras Balaguer, Director of Culture and Exhibitions at Casa Asia