Ali Abbasi’s international film, ‘Holy Spider’ has been released in Moroccan cinemas.
The film first premiered at the 2022 Cannes film festival where it competed for the prestigious Palm d’Or.
Based on a true story, the crime thriller is about Saeed Hanaei, a serial killer who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women in total between 2000 and 2001 in Mashhad, Iran.
The critically acclaimed film follows a fictional female journalist investigating the tragedies of his victims.
The lead actress playing the journalist, Zahara Amir Ibrahimi, was awarded the best actress for her role at the Cannes film festival this year.
This movie started developing in 2016, then the shooting was pushed back numerous times because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The production eventually happened in Jordan after being canceled in Turkey due to some conflicts with the Turkish authorities.
The director was a student in Tehran when the actual murders occurred, which got him to write the initial draft of the story in 2002 after seeing some interviews with the serial killer.
According to Iran Wire, An Iranian director of a movie that premiered on 2020 on the same subject is accusing Ali Abbasi of plagiarism.
This director, Ebrahim Irajzad, complained that his movie has to wait in line before being shot meanwhile ‘Holy Spider’ was shooting Jordan fast.
The movie was not received well by Iranian media.
Yet some Iranian reformist figures congratulated both the lead actress on her win and the director for the international success of his movie.
The Iranian negative media coverage carries on and grows progressively.
Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic guidance talked about the movie in an official statement saying that it insults Muslim beliefs as read in Iran International.
The cinema organization of the ministry considers the movie a product of a confused mind, refereeing to the Iranian Canadian director.
‘Holy Spider’ is receiving a lot of favorable reviews from Moroccan and international viewers.
It is still in Moroccan cinemas, in addition to many movies that premiered lately such as Top Gun, Thor Love and Thunder, The Minions, and Elvis.
As for movies premiering in Moroccan cinemas soon, Collapsed Walls by Moroccan director Hakim Belabbes, One Piece, Nope by Jordan Peele, and Bullet Train are all to look up for.
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