Terrestrial Verses

Synopsis

A series of incisive, often darkly comic vignettes, Terrestrial Verses offers a glimpse into the lives of average Iranians as they grapple with the social, cultural, and religious bureaucracies imposed upon them by their government. A static camera chronicles an array of struggles—a woman searching for her lost dog, a filmmaker clashing with national censorship, a parent attempting to name his newborn son David, and many others—as the film ponders the absurd, draconian structures that subtly dictate life in Iran. The accumulation of these striking short fictions paints a powerfully human picture of a population fed up with the constraining politics of everyday life.