The Rainbow Island

One of the most astonishingly exotic films in this year’s festival has to be Khosrow Sinai’s drama, Rainbow Island. The title refers to the island of Hormuz, which occupies a very strategic position at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. With its extraordinary multicoloured soils, ancient Portuguese forts and folk-art traditions, it’s a tour operator’s dream. But this is Islamic Iran and these are remote custom-bound villagers. How much are they willing to welcome the outside world, and what will they gain or lose in the process? Enter a worldly professor from Tehran who proposes a radical plan to transform the island’s best assets into a thriving cultural destination, not just for tourists, but for the sustainability of the islands culture and economy, not to mention its aesthetic beauty.