Farsi Film Festival – Kinemathek Karlsruhe

The Farsi Film Festival is aimed at film enthusiasts, at anyone interested in Iranian and Afghan culture and the Persian language – and at those who wish to learn about the realities of life for people in Iran and Afghanistan and show solidarity with them.
Since September last year, the situation in Iran has continued to deteriorate. War, economic hardship, social exhaustion and political repression are all converging. Protests and other forms of dissent are met with arrests, prosecution and death sentences. Women continue to resist state regulations and control over their bodies and their public lives.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the systematic exclusion of women and girls from education, work and public life continues. Their freedom of movement and their participation in society are being increasingly restricted. It is precisely under these circumstances that it is crucial not only to focus our attention on women, but also to give space to their own perspectives.
Putting together a film programme on these countries is particularly difficult this year. How can we make a selection that does justice to a reality that is constantly changing and becoming ever more complex? And how can we talk about women in Iran and Afghanistan without portraying them solely as victims, and thereby losing sight of their individuality, their voices and their resistance?
No single film, nor any film programme, can do justice to these difficult and complex realities. Instead, we bring together different, sometimes contradictory perspectives: stories about war and its consequences, about the struggle for freedom and self-determination, about the continuity of political resistance across generations, and about what remains of a
movement once public protest has fallen silent.
BASHU, GHARIBEYE KOOCHAK – a classic of Iranian cinema – shows how war irrevocably changes a child’s life. Our opening film, NO GOOD MEN, is a romantic comedy about an Afghan journalist in the final months before the return of the Taliban. A programme of short films traces a path from the past to the present, exploring resistance and oppression in Iran. And ROYA tells the story of a prisoner from the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and the lasting impact this experience has on her life.
These films, together with a few others, open up a space for experiences that often remain invisible in the news and in political debates. The Farsi Film Festival does not seek to provide simple answers. It aims to look closely, to tolerate ambivalence, and to facilitate an encounter that transcends geographical and linguistic boundaries. For cinema cannot replace reality nor undo injustice. However, it can bear witness, preserve memory, and give space to those voices that are meant to be silenced.

(Text by Mahsa Vafaie)