Afghan Mahmudi brothers to make their new movie in Iran

The Mahmudi brothers’ latest film “Rona, Azim’s Mother”, a co-production between Afghanistan and Iran, is scheduled to go on screen at Iranian theaters in September. 
Starring Iranian actors Mohsen Tanabandeh and Mojtaba Pirzadeh, the film is about Azim, an Afghan refugee who works as a janitor in Tehran. While helping with his mother and his brother’s family plan to smuggle themselves into Germany, he feels betrayed by his brother when he abandons their mother.
The film has received several awards in Iranian and international events, including Kim Ji-seok Award at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival in October 2018 and best film award at the Sharm el-Sheikh Asian Film Festival in Egypt in March 2019. 
“Rona, Azim’s Mother” was Afghanistan’s submission to the 91st Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category in 2018, however, it did not make the shortlist. 
The Mahmudi brothers’ other film “Parting”, which is another Afghan-Iranian co-production about love and migration, was Afghanistan’s submission to the 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017.
The film tells the story of teenage lovers Nabi and Fereshteh who are separated by her family’s flight from Afghanistan. After years apart, Nabi decides to find Fereshteh and risk the hardships of flight and resettlement in Europe with a hope for a better life.
“Parting” was acclaimed at several international events, including the 9th Afghan International Film Festival in Stockholm and the Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon. 
Their 2014 film “A Few Cubic Meters of Love”, a love story between an Iranian worker and an Afghan immigrant, was also acclaimed by film critics and was awarded in several Iranian and international events.