North American Premiere
When a woman decides to rent her home for a film shoot, she’s not prepared for the overwhelming sense of intrusion she will experience by having the film crew in her space. But reality and fiction blur as the production ramps up and she finds herself immersed in the work and on-set camaraderie.
In his feature debut, Iranian director Farshad Hashemi weaves a narratively dense and emotionally textured film tapestry, crafting a quietly affecting drama that lands as a poetic meditation on loneliness and the power of storytelling. The filmmaker nimbly switches between storytelling conventions to interrogate the notion of art imitating life and vice versa. As he himself moves seamlessly in front of and behind the camera (he plays the production manager), he conveys a deep appreciation for the chaotic nature of the creative process, proving that magic is often found in moments of frustration and uncertainty.
Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, Göteborg 2024
Presented by
Media Partner
Mahboube Gholami, Farshad Hashemi, Ebrahim Azizi, Zahra Aghapour, Navid Aghaei, Arash Deghan Shad
Iran/Germany
2024
In Farsi with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Sina Askari
Producer
Farzad Pak, Farshad Hashemi
Screenwriter
Farshad Hashemi
Cinematography
Davood Malek Hosseini
Editor
Mahdi Iravani
Production Design
Siamak Karinejad
Original Music
Peyman Yazdanian
Farshad Hashemi
Farshad Hashemi is an Iranian writer, director, and actor. His feature directorial debut, Me, Maryam, the Children, and 26 Others premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and was selected for the Göteborg Film Festival where it won the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Love
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).
Sex
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.
3 Faces
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...
Dreams
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...
Transit
Trust the director of Phoenix and Barbara to re-imagine a WWII romantic intrigue into something unsettlingly contemporary. With occupying forces closing in, a German refugee (Franz Rogowski) assumes a dead writer's identity and flees to Marseille.