Noghteh-e-goriz

Exiled from Iran since the days of the Revolution, Bani Khoshnoudi now returns home in search of history. “Standing outside of time”, like the line in the film’s opening poem, the filmmaker interweaves temporalities: old newspapers collected by her aunt and recent protest videos; childhood home movies and images gathered secretly on the streets of Tehran. “The whole world is watching us. Don’t be afraid,” says a man at a protest in 2009, as if the camera were a shield against repression. This faith in visibility that has formed a central tenet of political filmmaking evaporates in the face of an ongoing genocide for which there exists no image seemingly capable of diverting its course. Khoshnoudi is aware of this, and refrains from piling up evidence as such. Instead, she puts together an intricate visual garden, composed of varied and delicately cultivated images, from rebels graffitiing walls to quiet rainy landscapes. At a time when daily horrors penetrate our screens and our attention continually jumps to the next story, NOGHTEH-EGORIZ does not look away: a woman lies on the floor in agony; another woman is shot by a gunman while filming. The horrors are here too, but their materiality still matters. (Victor Guimarães)

In the presence of Bani Khoshnoudi and Carlos Prieto Acevedo (Editing Consultant).

Bani Khoshnoudi: TRANSIT (2004, K), A PEOPLE IN THE SHADOWS (2008), ZIBA (2012), CEM (2013, K), THE SILENT MAJORITY SPEAKS (2014), TRANSIT(S): OUR TRACES OUR RUINS (2016), LUCIÉRNAGAS (2018), BENIZIT (2019, K), SAP (2022, K), EL CHINERO, UN CERRO FANTASMA (2023, K)