Full or Empty

For many years, Abolfazl Jalili has demonstrated that setbacks need not hamper creativity and productivity. While the film maker himself is involved with the post-production of Hafez – a film inspired by the life of the great Persian poet – the festival is now screening the engaging Full or Empty, which Jalili made practically on his own, with non-professional actors. Full or Empty is characterised by Jalili’s typical love for an ambitious kid who does not put up with the bureaucracy, disinterest and hypocrisy of the established order. The setting and the characters are true to life and convincing. The result, a social comedy with almost Chaplin-esque elements, is in the very best tradition of Neo-realism. Navid Reisi (aged 17 and played by 17-year-old Navid Reisi) leaves his village to look for a job teaching Persian literature. He turns up at The Education Centre and is put on a waiting list. In a slum district, he moves in with a widow and does all kinds of odd jobs. One night, he dreams of a girl he will meet a few days later. He decides to marry her as soon as he has a job as a teacher. But this is far from easy. The beautiful girl turns out to be a divorced woman, mother of three children and engaged to an older man who keeps her. Then Navid’s energy and well-developed sense of justice gets him into even more trouble… (GT)