EQUINOX PART I

The Equinox is the moment when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun; it marks a change in cycles and seasons. This 6 day program aims to examine the cycles and movements of Southwest Asian and Iranian cinema, opening the programme to filmmakers and communities to showcase their works in the Diaspora. Equinox Part I examines the influences and counter-movements of Iranian cinema across different eras. Filmfarsi, the popular Iranian cinema of the 1950s, was heavily criticized from many sides and eventually classified as "immoral", "vulgar" and "imitative", yet it harbors treasures that are praised by researchers and cineastes today.The activities of Cinema-Ye Azad emerged partly from the pre-revolutionary stagnation of Filmfarsi and moved towards an alternative collective model. In the years from 1969-1979, Cinema-ye Azad enthusiasts organized film weeks, panels and talks. In this tradition, Ehsan Khoshbakht, Hadi Alipanah, Afsun Moshiry and Amirali Ghasemi present films and research that explore the commonalities and divergences between Filmfarsi, Cinema-ye Azad and the contemporary, expanded Iranian Cinema. 

Afsun Moshiry is an Iranian-German Film curator and producer. She has curated Iranian film programs for Berliner Festspiele and Akademie der Künste. She is part of the selection committee for Kasseler Dokfest. Since 2023, she has been a programme advisor at Berlinale Forum.

Hadi Alipanah born in Iran, 1986  is a film critic and journalist. He also has a long history of organizing several short film festivals, curating short film screenings and supervising the production of hundreds of short films.