A Dragon Arrives!

The year is 1964: Hafizi, an investigator from the secret police, is sent to the desert island of Qeshm to investigate the suicide of a political exile. The man had been living alone, inside an ancient boat which lies mysteriously in the middle of the desert, near an old cemetery. His death seems suspicious, but that’s the least of the mysteries that begin to unfold. The walls on the inside of the boat where the political exile had been living are covered in writings. There are books and strange objects lying around everywhere. At night, after the corpse is buried in the ancient cemetery, the earth shakes, as if something is stirring underneath the ground. According to the locals, when a corpse is buried, «the earth opens its jaws wide»...

Hafizi decides to stay and investigate the mystery of what lies beneath the strange cemetary, and brings along a couple of experts - an eccentric hippie sound engineer and a brilliant geologist. Soon, they get the feeling that they are being watched… Fifty years later, a strange box containing photographs and objects linked to the island is unearthed by a film team, who decide to find out what happened to the three men.

Legend, superstition and metaphor blend with current and past Iranian political realities in this surreal puzzle of a film. Exquisitely shot and extremely stylish, A Dragon Arrives! is full of fascinating visual details and symbolic clues to guide you through its turtous plot. With elements of noir thriller, mockumentary and fantasy, A Dragon Arrives! is a one of a kind film, both endlessly mystifying and entertaining.

Mani Haghighi (1969) is an Iranian theatre director, actor, and filmmaker. With a background in philosophy and cultural studies, he has gone on to direct a number of documentaries and fiction films, several of which have premiered at the Berlinale. His films often mix elements of comedy and other genres with criticism of society. Haghighi is one of the main guests at this year's festival.