If movies could predict a revolution

Nazarbazi
Maryam Tafakory Iran, United Kingdom 2022, 19 min. Farsi with English subtitles, DCP

Followed by a talk with Maryam Tafakory (online)

Nazarbazi [the play of Glances] is a film about love and desire in Iranian cinema where depictions of intimacy and touch between women and men are prohibited. The film focuses primarily on images of women whose bodies have been erased and victimized in post-revolution cinema and alludes to discreet forms of communication that operate within, yet also circumnavigate the censors. It attempts to touch the spaces we cannot touch; inner feelings/sensations – but also untouchability beyond physical contact: unspoken prohibitions/regulators that may only unveil as embodied experiences.

Herfeh: mostanadsaz / Profession: Documentarist 
Shirin Barghnavard, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Farahnaz Sharifi, Mina Keshavarz, Sepideh Abtahi, Sahar Salahshoor, Nahid Rezaei, Iran 2014, 80 Min. Farsi with English subtitles, DCP

Followed by a talk with Mina Keshavarz

In the face of increasing social and political pressure and restrictions on freedom of expression following the 2009 Iranian presidential elections, seven female documentarians attempt to channel the zeitgeist of the time and collage their different lives facing the same challenges. An entire generation of women between their late 20s to early 50s speak about their personal and professional lives and their struggles that continue to this day.

Maryam Tafakory, born in Shiraz/Iran, works with film and performance. Her work has been screened at MoMA, Locarno, HKW and Anthology Film Archives. She has received the awards the Best Experimental Short at 70th Melbourne International Film Festival, the Gold Hugo Award at the 58th Chicago International Festival, the Tiger Short Award at 51st IFFR Rotterdam, and the Barbara Hammer Feminist Award at 60th AAFF.

Mina Keshavarz, an awarded Iranian documentary filmmaker and producer, was born in 1984. Her films, including Unwelcome in Tehran, Profession: Documentarist, Braving the Waves and The Art of Living in Danger, are about social political issues with a personal narrative. They have premiered at IDFA, Thessaloniki, Busan International Film Festival, Sheffield, Tribeca, London Film Festival. Her films have been supported by IDFA Bertha Fund, Sorfond, Fritt Ord, Arte/ ZDF, NRW Cinema Fund and HotDocs International CrossCurrent Theatrical Fund.