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Berlin Forum entry “Shaheed” is the debut feature of Iranian-German filmmaker Narges Kalhor, and his first film at the Swiss documentary festival Vision du Lille, which is included in the more experimental “Burning.” Prior to its premiere, the film was picked up by Prague-based documentary specialist Filmorter. light section.
“Shaheed,” which Kalhor described as a collaboration between herself and other artists, including a costume artist and painter from Iran, a music composer from Germany and a choreographer from Berlin, playfully moves between genres. It moves and challenges traditional filmmaking rules.
The film, set in present-day Germany, where Kalhor immigrated as a political refugee in 2009, focuses on her desire to officially drop the first part of her last name, “Shahid.” Shahid means “martyr” in Persian and is inherited from her great persona. -Grandfather, in an act of feminist resistance against patriarchal structures.
In the process, the actor playing Kalhor travels back in time and meets his great-grandfather, but also reveals the true origins behind his name. It turns out that her name was chosen by her great-grandmother when her husband was killed.
In one of several on-screen scenes that deliberately break the third wall between filmmaker and viewer, Calhout realizes he’s making the wrong movie. I also come to the conclusion that I know nothing about this great-grandmother.
“This is the end of dramaturgy,” Calhout told Variety. “There’s no room for great-grandmothers in this movie. Great-grandmothers tell us this through AI animation. She says, ‘In this movie, all you’re talking about is men and great-grandfathers. But let me tell you my story,” Calhou says, referring to a scene in which an animated figure of her great-grandmother speaks directly to her.
“But we don’t know anything about her, only that she is Kurdish and changed her last name. You can’t make a film about her because history is written by men and about men.” added Kalhor.
While the film never takes itself too seriously, it does a good job of tackling myriad questions about patriarchy, diversity, and narratives shaped by the male perspective. When asked if she intended to make a feminist film, she replied: I truly believe that the types of movies we learn from are from men.
“I was a student of Abbas Kiarostami. Here [in Germany] I learned from Michael Haneke, I learned from consummate filmmakers, and they were all men. With ‘Shaheed’, I want to write a new kind of feminist film that breaks the rules.it’s not just about her [my great-grandmother] But it’s about all of us. We all have a last name and it has a history. But as a woman, I want to change that, to rewrite it. ”
Kalhor has not returned to Iran since 2009, when he applied for asylum and left the country while visiting the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival with his film school short film “Die Egge.”
Her case, the daughter of then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s senior cultural adviser, was in contrast to other refugees, including the actors who played herself and her great-grandfather in the film, as she was granted asylum after just a few months. , which attracted the attention of international media. , I had to wait a few years.
In the film, Ms. Karhor refers to what she describes as Germany’s “refugee class,” and in another scene, the actors criticize her behind her back between scenes, making her feel like she’s a “refugee class” in Tehran. He is said to have been recorded calling him “Rich Kid.”
“Because of my last name, I was granted asylum in just three months. Other Iranians, the real victims of the Iranian regime, had been there without papers for years,” he said. That’s the difference between us,” she told Variety.
“And for me, it was important to reflect this in my films, because it would be unfair for me not to criticize myself. There are VIPs like me, and if you have to wait years, Some did not, and some are still being sent back to their original countries. ”
Although “Shaheed” is her feature debut, it is not Kalhor’s first visit to Vision du Lille; she has already released the short story “In the Name of Scheherazade” in 2019 and “Sensitive Content” last year. .
The film will have its international premiere in Nyon on April 14th.
The festival will run until April 21st.
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