Film distribution company Matson Films has acquired U.S. rights to the acclaimed feature film RADIO DREAMS from Iranian-British director Babak Jalali. The company will distribute the film in U.S. theaters nationwide in April and May 2017. The acquisition announcement comes amid news that Jalali’s first English-language narrative feature is expected to get a major festival debut in 2017.
“Honest, funny, and visionary – RADIO DREAMS is a truly unique gem and we are beyond excited to bring it to audiences this Spring,” said Hannah Campbell, vice president of the Los Angeles-based distributor Matson Films. “Director Babak Jalali has masterfully created a bizarre yet very real world inhabited by spellbinding characters who provide much-needed insight into the sometimes surreal experiences of American immigrants. RADIO DREAMS is all at once a poignant art film, tragicomic hero’s journey, and immeasurably topical socio-political dialogue. The intrigue is simply undeniable.”
RADIO DREAMS, winner of the 45th Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Tiger Award, is the newest feature film from Iranian-British director Babak Jalali (FRONTIER BLUES).
RADIO DREAMS creates the bizarre yet very real world of PARS-FM – a Farsi-language radio station broadcasting from the heart of San Francisco. The story unfolds over a single day as the station’s program manager, Hamid – a brilliant, misunderstood Iranian writer (played by the “Iranian Bob Dylan” Mohsen Namjoo) – prepares for a triumphant broadcast – a live performance pairing Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan’s first rock band. Meanwhile, Hamid must juggle a dysfunctional mix of on-air talent, station managers, and performers while fending off the owner’s plans to wrest control of the station.
RADIO DREAMS brings to life the sometimes bizarre experience of immigrants pursuing dreams in the U.S.A. with the perfect mixture of honesty, art, and socio-political topicality served up in an ingenious, offbeat transmission.