Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #134. Milad Alami’s Opponent

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Motståndaren

For his sophomore feature, Iranian-Scandi (grew up in Sweden and currently lives in Denmark) filmmaker Milad Alami hits the mat tackling stereotypical images of Middle-Eastern men. Opponent (Motståndaren) is a psychological drama set in the wrestling community where masculinity, intimacy and violence are commonplace. The project won a post-production prize at Les Arcs Festival’s Work-In-Progress section. This was produced by Sweden’s Tangy and Norway’s Ape&Bjørn. Payman Maadi (from Farhadi’s A Separation) toplines.

Gist: The story is about a man who is forced to flee Iran because of rumours about him, who tries to settle his family in northern Sweden.

Release Date/Prediction: A major film festival should be in the cards – perhaps competing for the Golden Bear.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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