Boston International Film Festival SESSION 26 B Thursday, June 12, 1:00pm – 2:30pm Plastic Flowers Never Die – 32min The war with Iraq was the largest mobilization of the Iranian population, achieved primarily by producing and promoting a culture of martyrdom based on religious themes found in Shii Islam. Martyrdom became state policy. Khomeini made it clear the war was a spiritual one that the people, and not a professional army, would fight. Over 800,000 people died. Anthropologist, writer and filmmaker Roxanne Varzi spent twelve years researching and writing about post-Revolution public culture in Iran. As an Iranian-American who was born in Iran and left shortly after the Revolution She found that her initial concerns about language, culture and beliefs were not what separated her from her Iranian family. What made her different was the fact that she had missed the war with Iraq. This is her meditation and mourning of a war that she may have missed, but found omnipresent in its aftermath all over Iran. Director, Producer, Writer: Roxanne Varzi Summer Scars – 73min In this dark coming-of-age thriller, six fourteen year old kids skip school to play in the woods where a power struggle emerges between the two rival leaders, BINGO and PAUL. Who will be first to ride the stolen moped and who will be first to impress LEANNE, the only girl in the group? After a hit and run incident involving the bike, the kids are befriended by the victim; a drifter named PETER who recruits the boys in a military style game designed to test their endurance. But as Peter's behaviour becomes increasingly aggressive, the kids are forced to settle their differences and embrace the dark side of human nature if they are going to survive the ordeal. Director, Producer: Julian Richards Writer: Al Wilson