13th Hiroshima-Iran Love & Peace Film Festival launched in Japan

TEHRAN – The 13th edition of the Hiroshima-Iran Love & Peace Film Festival was launched in Hiroshima, Japan, on Saturday.

A total of 10 films, five Iranian and five Japanese ones, are planned to be screened during the event, which will run through August 7.

The Iranian films selected for the festival include “The Lizard” (2004) by Kamal Tabrizi, “A Cube of Sugar” by Reza Mirkarimi, “The Painting Pool” (2013) directed by Maziar Miri, “Bodyguard” (2016) by Ebrahim Hatamikia, and “Ameneh’s Golden Blood” (2025) by Habib Ahmadzadeh.

A comedy drama, “The Lizard” stars Parviz Parastui as Reza "the lizard" Mesghali, a recently jailed petty thief who disguises himself as a clergyman and succeeds in escaping, but has to stay in the new role longer than he expected to.

The story of “A Cube of Sugar” happens in an old house in an old city of Iran. Because of the wedding of the youngest sister, Pasandide (played by Negar Javaherian), all of her sisters come to their old house to help their mother.

It had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2011. It was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards

“The Painting Pool” depicts Maryam (Negar Javaherian) and Reza (Shahab Hosseini) as a couple who are different from other people; it's not just a simple difference, but a very big difference. They must try to prove to others that they have solved the big difference with the miracle of love.

They have severe learning disabilities. When their son's schoolwork starts to surpass their own abilities, he grows frustrated with them, and after a heated argument, runs away from home. Maryam and Reza are left to struggle with work, money, and heartbreak in this affecting exploration of love and family that balances its more tragic moments with warmth and humor.

Charming, devastating and unique, “The Painting Pool” manages to treat a subject often neglected by mainstream cinema with honesty and compassion, and won multiple awards at the Fajr Film Festival.

“Bodyguard” shows a government bodyguard (performed by Parviz Parastui) who protects a politician from a suicide bomber, and then begins to question his dedication to his job.

In “Ameneh’s Golden Blood,” a young woman named Ameneh is in dire need of blood, but her blood type is so rare that there is not a single girl in the entire country who will donate blood to her.

For 13 years, the festival has been held every summer to give courage and hope, which are necessary to live, not only Hiroshima A-bomb and Iranian Chemical Weapon survivors in the past tragedy, but also all people.

SS/SAB