Skip to main content
Solar Eclipse film image, co-directors Alireza Ghasemi and Raha Amirfazli

Solar Eclipse

Eclipse

Canadian Premiere

A teen girl and her two friends and are off for an afternoon in the largest park in Teheran to photograph a rare total solar eclipse. This is a slice-of-life teen adventure where something as dark as the eclipse is revealed. The film shows us that, perhaps not surprisingly, rebellious teen behaviours and attitudes in Iran and the West share striking similarities, and that some of their actions would be considered morally questionable in both societies. The film is beautifully shot and directed with simplicity and precision, complemented by superb acting. The eclipse becomes a metaphor for something that should have stayed hidden, and that unsettled feeling of something being fundamentally changed forever.

 

Community Partner

Directors
Cast

Khorshid Cheraghipour, Paniz Esmaili, Anita Bagheri, Payman Naimi, Faraz Modiri

Credits
Country of Origin

France/Iran

Year

2021

Language

In Farsi with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
15 min

Featured in:

The Lone Wolf film image

International Shorts: Morality Plays

Morals are being challenged on many fronts. The protagonists in this program of short films are all faced with difficult moral choices and they don’t always make the right decisions.

 

MORE INFO

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Road to Patagonia

Dir. Matty Hannon
90 min

A travelogue, an eco doc, an adventure movie and a love story, The Road to Patagonia chronicles filmmaker and ecologist Mayy Hannon's 50,000 km expedition from Alaska to the tip of Chile (via Vancouver Island), on motorbike, horse, and surfboard.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sex

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
125 min

Two chimney sweeps living in heterosexual marriages find their views on sexuality and gender challenged by a series of unexpected events. In a set of sharply scripted conversations, both men confront heretofore unexplored aspects of their identity.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Love

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
119 min

This warm, thoughtful piece offers shrewd comic observations on modern dating as it trains a quizzical eye on the trysts of a female doctor, Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), and her colleague, a gay male nurse, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

No Bears

Dir. Jafar Panahi
106 min

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays himself in this ingenious meta-fiction about the making of a film, and the unmaking of love story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

3 Faces

Dir. Jafar Panahi
100 min

Iranian filmmaker Panahi and actress Behnaz Jafari, both playing themselves, receive a video in which a distraught teenaged girl, whose acting dreams have been quashed appears to kill herself. Panahi and Jafari decide to investigate...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Dreams

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
110 min

The third installment in the Sex/Dreams/Love trilogy is another rich, absorbing tale. 17-year-old Johanne writes a confessional about her flirtation with a (female) teacher. But the writing is too good to stay private...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Raha Amirfazli, Aria Ghavamian, Mani Nilchiani

Producer

Hassan Nadjarian Dariani, Alireza Ghasemi, Adrien Barouillet

Screenwriter

Alireza Ghasemi, Raha Amirfazli

Cinematography

Soheil Goharipour

Editor

Pooyan Sholevar

Production Design

Faraz Modiri

Director

Raha Amirfazli headshot, Solar Eclipse co-director

Raha Amirfazli

Raha Amirfazli is an Iranian filmmaker who graduated from the Art University of Tehran in Film Directing. She has made several short films that have earned her national and international screenings, including Nausea (2017). In addition to serving as a referee in the Danish journal Short Film Studies, she is also the editor-in-chief of the 24 Frames website. Amirfazli is currently pursuing an MFA in Film Production at New York University.

Alireza Ghasemi headshot, Solar Eclipse co-director

Alireza Ghasemi

Alireza Ghasemi is an Iranian filmmaker. He received his Master’s degree in Film Directing from the Art University of Tehran. His short Lunch Time (2017) earned him a Palme d’Or nomination in Cannes’ short film category. He is now the international manager of the Iranian Short Film Association. He participated in Cannes’ residency program with his first feature-length film script, The Ceremony.