TITANIC, SUITABLE VERSION FOR IRANIAN FAMILIES

An Iranian public broadcaster tries to square the circle: Present popular Hollywood films to the domestic audience while also adhering to the “moral” censorship stipulations of the regime. While the imported images and sounds are being manipulated, the real political life intrudes beyond the broadcasting studios.

From the programme of our partners, the Festival de Contis.

France/Iran 2023, Original Farsi with English subtitles, Director: Farnoosh Samadi, 15 min.

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WHO LOVES THE SUN

At the end of the years-long civil war, parts of the Syrian economy depended on revenues from small oil wells maintained at various locations around the country. The improvised extraction of raw materials scarred the country ecologically, economically, and politically. Reminiscent of Werner Herzog’s images from embattled Kuwait, the film bears witness to the consequences of war and an era which now hopefully belongs to the past.

Canada 2024, Original Arabic with English subtitles, Director: Arshia Shakiba, 19 min.

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MOTHER IS A NATURAL SINNER

A young woman is pregnant and doesn’t know whether she wants to keep her child. Between video calls with her mother in Iran, strange dream sequences, and blocked drains, a complex and absurd web of linguistic and visual associations is spun.

Germany/Iran 2024, Original German/Farsi with English subtitles, Director: Hoda Taheri, Boris Hadžija, 15 min.

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MERGING BODIES

The shining smooth aluminium plates and foils we know in everyday life are made in a process that is anything but straight. Adrian Paci has turned it into an impressive and visually orchestrated film that is simulanously a modern image film for an aluminium manufacturer, an homage to the workers and a unique art piece. Winner of the short film competition at the International Filmfestival Rotterdam.

Italy 2024, no dialogue, Director: Adrian Paci, 23 Min.

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NOW, HEAR ME GOOD

Far away from home, a young musician hosts a party with friends and colleagues. From the comforting jumble of voices and thoughts, a silence finally emerges which enables him to return to himself and his music. As in “Civic” (LICHTER 2024), Dwayne LeBlanc reflects on distance and proximity in human conversations.

USA 2024, Original English language, Director: Dwayne LeBlanc, 15 min.