Beijing International Film Festival 2025

In the tumult of images and narratives from around the world, the film “Derno” (Whirlpool), written and directed by Hadi Mohaqeq, was a different voice; a quiet but penetrating voice that reached the hearts of the audience not with a shout, but with a whisper. This work, which is the result of a cinematic collaboration between Iran and the Czech Republic, was produced by Mojtaba Golparian and screened on April 23, 2025, in the main competition section and as a nominee for the prestigious Tiantan Award at the 15th Beijing International Film Festival

In the last days of April 2025, Beijing once again became a shining stage for world cinema. The 15th Beijing International Film Festival, with an impressive attendance of 1,794 feature films from 103 countries, was a window into diverse narratives, diverse cultures, and shared human concerns. The festival, sponsored by China Central Radio and Television Network, Beijing Municipality, and supported by the China Film Organization, was a stage for dialogue between arts, languages, and minds. The opening ceremony of the festival was held on April 18, 2025, at the Beijing Yanxi International Expo Center, and the closing ceremony was held on April 26

     Among the winners of the festival, the Norwegian film ” The Love Stop Button” won the award for best film , and its director Lilia Ingolfsdottir also won the award for best director. The artist also won the award for best screenplay with Wesson Yu and Zhang Qi for the Chinese film “Murder by Storm ” . The actress of ” The Love Stop Button “, Helga Gullen , also received the award for best actress . The award for best actor was also shared by Pierre Bastien and Benjamin Lambelot for the film ” The Most Beautiful Town ” from Belgium. The film “The Message” , a joint production of Argentina, Spain and Uruguay, also received the award for service to the arts and was recognized by the judges as a film with outstanding cultural and human values

     But in the tumult of images and narratives from around the world, the film “Derno” (Whirlpool) , written and directed by Hadi Mohaqeq , was a different voice; a quiet but penetrating voice that reached the hearts of the audience not with a shout, but with a whisper. This work, which is the result of a cinematic collaboration between Iran and the Czech Republic, was produced by Mojtaba Golparian and screened on April 23, 2025, in the main competition section and as a nominee for the prestigious Tiantan Award at the 15th Beijing International Film Festival. Along with the artists who made this film, the Cultural Counselor of the Islamic Republic of Iran in China was also present

     “Derno” is not only a visual narrative, but also an experience of diving into the void within a person. In this film, the researcher takes the viewer into a world of life and death that moves between fantasy and reality, and using a very gentle rhythm, strict compositions, cold color ranges, especially opaque and wordless blues, creates an atmosphere that forces the audience to listen to what remains unsaid between the frames

     The story hides intertwined layers of loneliness, existential anxiety, emotional ruptures, and the search for meaning; and it is these layers that invite the audience to participate in a philosophical experience

Iran at the 2025 Beijing International Film Festival

     The question and answer session that followed the film screening was one of the most intimate and moving moments of the festival. Quiet and thoughtful, Hadi Mohaqeq gave answers without any fuss that opened new windows into the world of his work, rather than explanations. When asked, “ What are you thinking about now?” he said with a calm smile, “I stare at the earth and try to draw inspiration from it.” And this gaze at the earth is not a physical gaze, but a poetic insight that runs through all of his works. Elsewhere, he added

“I want the audience to sit at this film and gaze with me.” Gazing with Mohaqeq means experiencing the world through a small but bright window; it means being invited into a world where the smallest details of life can answer the biggest questions of existence

Hadi Mohaqeq has proven himself to be a director with a unique worldview with films such as Brothers of the Land , Mamiru , He Rocks Well , Iro and Dereb . He seeks not only to create stories, but also to discover moments that reveal a truth of life beyond time and narrative. His cinema is a fusion of Eastern poetics, existential philosophy, and moral contemplation; a cinema in which the viewer is not forced to “ follow the story ,” but is invited to “ experience existence ” on the silver screen

Iran at the 2025 Beijing International Film Festival