Cold Sweat () is a 2018 Iranian film written and directed by Soheil Beiraghi. The film screened for the first time at the 36th Fajr Film Festival and received 3 Awards and 3 nominations.
Premise
Afrooz Ardestani (Baran Kosari) is the captain of the Iranian women's national futbal team. With Afrooz scoring, the national team makes its way to the finals of the Asian Games for the first time and heads to Malaysia. At the airport, she finds out that her husband, Yasser Shah Hosseini (Amir Jadidi), has banned her from leaving the country.
Cast
Baran Kosari as Afrooz Ardestani
Amir Jadidi as Yaser Shah-hosseini
Sahar Dolatshahi as Mehrane Nouri
Leyli Rashidi as Pantea Al-e-Davoud
Hoda Zeinolabedin As Masi Ata'ei
Public screening
International
Cold sweat has been screened in many countries of Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.
Asia
Tokyo Int'l Film Festival (25 Oct.-3 Nov 2018/ Japan) Yokohama Football Film Festival (16-17 Feb 2019/Japan) Bengaluru Int'l Film Festival (21-28 Feb 2019/ India) Shanghai Int'l Film Festival (15-24 June 2019/ China) Crime and Punishment Film Festival (22-28 Nov 2019/ Turkey)
Africa
Festival Gabes Cinema Fen (12-18 April 2019/ Tunisia)
Europe
Das Iranische Wien (Feb.2019/ Austria) Quai 10 (8 March 2019/ Belgium) Thinking Football Film Festival (18-22 March 2019/ Spain) Iranian Film Festival in Prague (21-31 March.2019/Czech Republic) Movies that Matter (22-30 March 2019/ The Netherlands) Arab Film Festival (4-12 Oct. 2019/ Germany) Iranische Film Festival Koblenz (Oct. 2019/ Germany) Fussballichtspiele St. Gallen (14-16 Nov.2019/ Switzerland) Protesta Int'l Film Festival (18-26 Oct. 2019/Spain)
Oceania
Sydney Film Festival (5-16 June 2019/ Australia)
America
Palm Spring Film Festival (3-14 Jan.2019/USA) Panama Int'l Film Festival (4-10 April 2019/ Panama) Washington, DC Int'l Film Festival (25 April- 5 May 2019/ USA) Seattle Int'l Film Festival (16 May- 9 June 2019/ USA) Cinelran Festival (16-18 Nov.2018/ Canada) Minneapolis - St Paul Int'l Film Festival (4-20 April 2019/ USA) The Museum of fine Arts, Houston (Oct.2019/ USA) The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Nov. 2019/ USA)
Reception
Accolades
Commentary and controversy
Preventing teaser screening
Iranian television also refused to broadcast the Cold Sweat teaser. Beirghi stated that the reason was the TV ban on Baran Kosari. Amir Jadidi plays the role of a radio presenter in the film. This position caused some IRIB correspondents to criticize the portrayal of a TV presenter in the film's press conference. Beirghi replied that the thinking of the organization is hypocritical and he has shown the same thing in the film.
Cold Sweat, subject to total indifference
Every year the events of Fajr International Film Festival are discussed in Haft (seven) TV talk show on Channel 3, in parallel with everyday screening of the films at the festival. Oddly enough, in 2017 Cold Sweat was excluded from the list of the films that were analyzed and reviewed during the show’s evening talks.
The fundamentalist newspaper Javan (young) labeled Cold Sweat as ‘feminist’ and ‘shameful’. Even some of the medias from the opposing side renamed the film Chilled Sweat with the intention of criticizing hookah smoking and tooth brushing scenes. The film came under fierce criticism from Tasnim News Agency whose headlines read ‘Man and Religion’; Feminism Pays Them Back!’ ‘Feminist Extremism Gives Flavour to Football’. Fars News Agency criticized the film for having looked at a domestic issue from a western perspective and blamed it for the propagation of ideas that encourage women to initiate movements and claim their rights. Finally, Mashregh News accused the film by the headline ‘An Obvious Example of Sheer Hypocrisy in Iranian Cinema’.