Online May 2 - 4
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
Dadresi (The Claimant)
Iran | Short
2024 | 20 mins | Persian
Limited tickets available on site.
Fajr International Film Festival, Iran - Winner Best Short Film
Tehran International Short Film Festival, Iran - Winner Best Direction
Accolade Global Film Competition, United States - Winner Best Woman Filmmaker
“Claimant" is about a father who discovers that his teenage daughter was assaulted and raped, so he decides to confront and punish the rapist, but since the culprit is a very proficient lawyer he uses laws in a way that he not only escapes from justice but also legally make the father the criminal.
Film Heritage Foundation used the best surviving elements for the restoration – the original camera negative and the 35 mm print preserved at the NFDC – NFAI. Unfortunately, the sound negative was not available. We digitized the sound from the 35 mm print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation. The film elements were repaired by the Film Heritage Foundation conservators and the scanning was done in Prasad Lab in Chennai We found that due to the deterioration of the print, there were vertical green lines on many parts of the film. While the scanning and digital clean-up was done at Prasad under the supervision of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, the grading, sound restoration and mastering was done at the lab in Bologna. Both Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, the cinematographer of the film, have been involved in the restoration of the film.
Restoration Process
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Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
The screening will be preceded by a performance by Specific Thing.
Specific Thing is the project of local musician Román. Sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes he plays with his snazzy band — he loves to do both! And the music? It draws from folk, punk, pop, latin, communism, animals, friends... He likes to keep it cartoony, quick, and catchy. The band released an album in 2025 called "Now Is Actually Not A Good Time". Find more at @specificthing on Instagram.
Meet Specific Thing
About the Artist
Photo courtesy:
Film Heritage Foundation
I was born in 1979. I studied cinema and dramatic literature in art university and I received my PHD in art research. For many years I was mostly active in academic fields and I taught interdisciplinary courses between art and humanities in universities such as the Art university of Tehran. In recent years I have increased my artistic activities such as screenwriting. I had rewritten the script of "Conjugal Visit" (2021) (directed by Omid Shams). Claimant is my first short film as a writer and director.
Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Restoration Effort Led By: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation
Restoration Credit:
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal. Funding supported by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul)