Totem Movies, the Paris-based gross sales and manufacturing firm identified for arthouse breakouts similar to “Compartment No. 6” and “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” has boarded gross sales on “My Favorite Cake” by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha. The Iranian writing-directing duo’s newest characteristic was simply introduced in competitors on the upcoming Berlinale.

The movie stars newcomer Lily Farhadpour as Mahin and famend Iranian actor Esmail Mehrabi as Faramarz.

Seventy-year-old Mahin lives alone, till she decides to interrupt her solitary routine and revitalize her love life. However as she opens as much as romance, an surprising encounter shortly evolves into an unforgettable night.

Moghaddam and Sanaeeha mentioned: “’My Favorite Cake’ relies on the fact of the on a regular basis lives of middle-class girls in Iran. The realities of ladies’s lives in Iran have hardly been instructed, but it is a playful story about hope and pleasure in life, in addition to the absurdity of loss of life.”

The movie marks a return to Berlin’s competitors lineup for Moghaddam and Sanaeeha after the success of “Ballad of a White Cow,” which was introduced on the Berlinale in 2021. The movie was bought by Totem Movies to greater than 40 key distributors, and screened at A-list festivals world wide.

“’Don’t change a profitable staff’ is one thing we imagine in, and after the success of ‘Ballad of a White Cow,’ it was apparent that we might work with Totem once more,” the filmmakers mentioned.

“Ballad of a White Cow” was additionally among the many viewers favorites on the Berlinale, ending among the many finalists for the competition’s Competitors Viewers Award, and rising as the highest vote-getter of any non-German movie that yr.

Iranian cinema has made a major mark on Berlin’s politically oriented competitors in current a long time, with Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” (2011), Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi” (2015) and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There Is No Evil” (2020) all being awarded the competition’s prime prize, the Golden Bear for finest characteristic. Iran has received Berlin’s prime award extra instances within the final 15 years than any nation on this planet.

Moghaddam, who was born in Tehran, is an actress, screenwriter and director. She graduated from the Performing Arts College of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has carried out in varied Swedish theaters and has starred in Iranian movies similar to Jafar Panahi and Kambuzia Partovi’s “Closed Curtain” (2013), which received a Silver Bear on the 63rd Berlinale.

Sanaeeha, who was born in Shiraz, finishing his diploma in structure. He then started writing scripts and directing brief movies, documentaries and commercials. His first characteristic movie “Threat of Acid Rain” (2015) was screened at greater than 30 worldwide festivals.

Behtash and Maryam started their collaboration by co-writing the characteristic movie “Threat of Acid Rain” (2015). “My Favorite Cake” marks their third characteristic collaboration.

“My Favorite Cake” is produced by Iran’s Filmsazan Javan, France’s Caracteres Productions, Sweden’s Hobab and Germany’s Watchmen Productions, and supported by the Swedish Movie Institute, Sveriges Tv, New Daybreak, ZDF/Arte, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, World Cinema Fund, CNC Aide aux cinemas du monde, Institut Français, Région Ile de France, Eurimages and the Berlinale Coproduction Market.

Totem Movies’ European Movie Market slate additionally contains the Panorama opening movie “Crossing” by Levan Akin, whose “And Then We Danced” emerged as a sizzling gross sales title after a buzzy Cannes Administrators’ Fortnight bow in 2019.