Montreal film festival

Controversial Iranian movie to open Montreal’s World Film Festival http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/controversial-iranian-movie-to-open-montreals-world-film-festival/article26112275/

The 39th edition of the WFF will kick off with the world premiere of Muhammad: The Messenger of God, the 171-minute Iranian epic by acclaimed filmmaker Majid Majidi. The film is the biggest-budgeted film ever to be produced in Iran, a country that, despite being a dictatorship, is home to one of the most fascinating contemporary national cinemas. But the feature, which chronicles the early life of the Islamic prophet and is lensed by world-renowned cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now), will be controversial because some Sunni Muslims argue that any depiction of Mohammed is blasphemous. (Egypt’s Al-Azhar University has already asked Iran not to distribute the film.)