‘Empty Nets’ Director Behrooz Karamizade on Capturing Hope, Despair of Young Iranians in Karlovy Vary Competition Title
variety.comEd Meza @edmezavar Behrooz Karamizade’s Iranian drama “Empty Nets,” which has its international premiere in the Crystal Globe Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, offers a sobering look at the increasingly difficult, sometimes hopeless lives of young working-class people in Iran as they strive for better lives.
Set on Iran’s northern Caspian Sea coast, the film follows Amir (Hamid Reza Abbasi), a young man who, desperate to marry his girlfriend Narges (Sadif Asgari), seeks work at a local fishery with the hope of earning enough money for an appropriate dowry and winning over her upper-class parents.
Once there, illicit opportunities present themselves and he is soon drawn into the dangerous but lucrative business of sturgeon poaching and the black market caviar trade.
The Iranian-German director, who grew up in Germany, says he always wanted to shoot his first feature film in Iran. “I’m very impressed by Iranian cinema and I grew up with Iranian cinema.
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