Hojoom

Invasion

Panorama 2018

Eternal darkness seems to shroud the stadium where men with bizarre tattoos pursue a sport that is never shown or named. A body has been found here, and the police have already identified a guilty party. Now the circumstances of the crime are to be reconstructed, so that the case can be quickly shelved. However, the real killer and his teammates want to use the reconstruction to commit another crime. The twin sister of the victim, who is said to be a vampire, is to be killed. But during the re-enactment of the murder, the players forget their roles, chaos breaks out and the characters seem to be caught in an endless loop in which events repeat themselves in different ways.
The disquieting feeling that time is dissolving, that past, present and future are becoming one and that history has been halted is likely to strike a chord with how many young Iranians feel about their lives. Shahram Mokri’s intimate drama ominously interweaves place, space and time in the stadium’s labyrinthine corridors to form a dark allegory.

To view this content, you must enable third-party cookies. >

by Shahram Mokri
with Abed Abest, Elaheh Bakhshi, Babak Karimi, Behzad Dorani, Pedram Sharifi, Mohammad Sareban, Levon Haftvan, Mehdi Etemad Saied, Milad Rahimi, Iman Sayad Borhani Iran 2017 Farsi 102’ Colour

With

Abed Abest (Ali)
Elaheh Bakhshi (Negar)
Babak Karimi (Babak)
Behzad Dorani (The Coach)
Pedram Sharifi (Shahrouz)
Mohammad Sareban (Captain)
Levon Haftvan (Warehouseman)
Mehdi Etemad Saied (Captain)
Milad Rahimi (Morteza)
Iman Sayad Borhani (Saied)

Crew

Director	Shahram Mokri
Screenplay	Nasim Ahmadpour, Shahram Mokri
Cinematography	Alireza Barazandeh
Music	Milad Movahedi
Sound Design	Parviz Abnar
Sound	Parviz Abnar
Production Design	Amir Esbati
Costumes	Nazanin Tavasoli, Amir Esbati
Make-Up	Iman Omidvari
Casting	Shahram Mokri
Assistant Director	Asma Ebrahimzadegan
Production Management	Hossein Akbari
Executive Producer	Maryam Shafie
Producer	Sepehr Seifi

World Sales

Iranian Independents

Produced by

Iran Novin Film

Shahram Mokri

Born in Marand, Iran in 1977, he studied film at Sooreh University in Tehran and then began making short films. He has also worked as an editor on television films, series, short films and documentaries. His feature film debut Ashkan, The Charmed Ring And Other Stories (2009) premiered at the Busan International Film Festival. It was followed by Fish & Cat (2013) which won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, screened at over 60 festivals worldwide and was a huge box-office hit in Iran. Hojoom (Invasion) is his third feature film.

Filmography

2000 Electric Shock And Fly; short film 2002 Dragonfly Storm; short film 2005 Limit of Circle; short film 2006 This is the Question; documentary 2007 Ando-C; short film 2009 Ashkan, The Charmed Ring And Other Stories 2010 Raw, Cooked and Burnt 2013 Fish & Cat 2017 Hojoom (Invasion); Panorama

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018