THE SILHOUETTES
Afsaneh Salari | Iran | 80 Min. | OmeU
In 1982, at the height of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1.5 million people fled to Iran. As a child of this generation, Taghi, who is in his late twenties, is no longer prepared to accept the discrimination resulting from the refugee status he inherited from his parents, which in Iran even prevents him from completing his studies. He leaves the protection of his loving family to find his identity and future in an unknown homeland. What fate awaits him in which country?
THE SILHOUETTES documents a perspective on migration rarely shown in Europe, where belonging and self-realization, searching for a home, and family cohesion are in the foreground.
Director, Cinematographer: Afsaneh Salari (she/her)
Editor: Giles Gardner (she/him)
Sound: Hasan Noori (he/him), Ensieh Maleki (she/her)
Producers: Jewel Maranan (she/her), Afsaneh Salari
Awards
Jury Special Mention for Best Documentary Feature, Visions du Reel
Director’s choice: Young talent award, Iranian Film Festival Zurich
First Prize, Kathamndou International Mountain Film Festival
Best Picture, Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival
Screenings
Visions du Reel 2020, International Competition, Switzerland
Iranian Film Festival Zurich 2020, Feature-length competition, Switzerland
Rendezvous with Madness 2020, Documentary Section, Canada
Kasseler Dokfest 2020, Feature-length competition, Germany
Kathamndou International Mountain Film Festival 2020, Feature-length competition, Nepal
Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival 2020, Feature-length competition, Pakistan
Iranian International Documentary Film Festival: Cinema Verite 2020, Feature-length competition, Iran
Iranian Fajr Film Festival 2021, Documentary Competition, Iran
Miradasdoc Film Festival 2021, Feature-length competition, Spain
Thin Line Film Festival 2021, Feature-length Documentary competition, US
Norrköping Film Festival 2021, Documentary Section, Sweden
Biography
Afsaneh Salari is an Iranian documentary director, editor and producer born in 1988 in Tehran. She holds a BA in editing from Tehran University of Art, an MA in creative directing and cinematography from Paris 8 University in France and an MA in documentary directing from Docnomads joint masters funded by Erasmus Mundus in Portugal, Hungary and Belgium. She’s the co-founder of Docmaniacs collective of filmmakers in Iran since 2015, a collective that accompanies filmmakers from the ME region to help produce independent documentary films. The Forbidden Strings is the first feature documentary she produced with an Afghan filmmaker which premiered at IDFA 2019. An alumni of La Femis summer university 2011 and Berlinale Talents 2016, she’s a grantee of Sundance Institute, Doha Film Institute, IDFA Bertha Fund, Asian Cinema Fund and Vision Sud Est fund. Her first feature documentary The Silhouettes was released at Vision du Reel 2020 and was awarded special mention for best feature documentary. Through her films, Afsaneh explores human condition within societies’ peripheries within different meanings and forms: immigration, war, labouring, and old age are some of the topics she’s worked on. She’s currently based in Paris.
