Neveshtan bar Shahr

The Iranian filmmaker tells the story of graffiti in Teheran, from the 1979 revolution that led to the fall of the Shah to 2008’s Green Revolution. Graffiti have historically announced the main events that have taken place in Teheran. These messages have extended like the walls built in the city for the past 200 years. However, the concepts and intentions of the graffiti have frequently reflected a distorted mirror of Iranian reality. Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi’s eye goes beyond the historical-political account of the evolution of Iranian society proposed by the archive footage and the images shot by Karimi himself. The film raises universal debates that time has turned into an implacable metaphor for its director’s resistance. Iran’s Revolutionary Court has recently sentenced Karimi to one year in prison and 223 lashings for having directed WRITING ON THE CITY. The authentic graffiti artists are never in the service of power. (MM/Film Festival de Buenos Aires)