Since 1979, Iranian filmmakers have been prohibited from depicting men and women touching on screen. Since then, directors have relied on cinematic tricks to represent intimate moments and powerful emotions. Nazarbazi collages these moments into a powerful poem about love and desire.
This film screens as part of Shorts 8: Whirlwinds (Experimental)
Radical tools are at play in this daring collection of shorts that take viewers on an experience like no other. Featuring works by Crystal Z Campbell, Jeppe Lange, María Silvia Esteve, Maryam Tafakory, and Maxime Jean-Baptiste.
An archive of pareidolia, a condition in which someone sees a pattern or image of something that does not exist, is narrated by a descendent of exodusters in Revolver (US). Abyss (Denmark) is a chain of 10,000 images found through Google’s reverse image search. A primal chaos takes place as artificial consciousness is formed. The Spiral (Argentina) chronicles a woman’s downward spiral as an anxiety attack discloses a complex labyrinth of emotions and fears. Since 1979, Iranian filmmakers have been prohibited from depicting men and women touching on screen. Since then, directors have relied on cinematic tricks to represent intimate moments and powerful emotions. Nazarbazi (Iran) collages these moments into a powerful poem about love and desire. Moune Ô (Belgium) repurposes footage from a film premiere’s party to reveal the survival of colonial inheritance within the western collective unconscious.
Note: The film Nazarbazi is not available as part of the streaming program.
Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available to stream anywhere in the United States.
Playful, powerful, and narratively beguiling, No Bears finds master director Jafar Panahi in top form. Starring as a fictionalized version of himself, the filmmaker, who has been barred from leaving Iran, relocates to a remote village to supervise a production taking place just across the border in Turkey. Initially enchanted by his celebrity, the local townspeople grow suspicious of him and his camera. The film within the film, about two lovers attempting to flee Iran, begins to mirror events in the director’s own life as reality becomes increasingly destabilized and the parallel narratives meld into one. The resulting experience is an unforgettable meta-textual reflection on the nature of freedom, oppression, authority, and cinema itself.
58th Chicago International Film Festival Award for Cinematic Bravery. Learn more…
Jacolyn and John Bucksbaum Family Foundation
212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
