REENACTMENT & DIALOGUE AS FILMIC TOOLS: APPROACHING THE MECHANISMS OF POLITICAL OPPRESSION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
Mehran Tamadon
MONDAY, 20.05. | 3–5:30 pm
Volkskundemuseum Wien
Laudongasse 15–19, 1080 Wien
Free Entry
Please send an informal registration with your name to: registration@ethnocineca.at.
Registration deadline: 19.05.2024
In his films, French-based Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon seeks a way to enter into dialogue with the agents of the Iranian regime. With the help of re-enactments, role-playing and dialogues with dissidents, his work renders experiences of violence and oppression tangible for the audience. Following Bassidji and Iranian, his two most recent productions MON PIRE ENNEMI – MY WORST ENEMY and JAII KEH KHODA NIST – WHERE GOD IS NOT now focus on dissidents’ experiences with the physical and psychological violence of interrogation and imprisonment in Iran and the traumatic consequences these have on those affected. In the process, Tamadon not only remains behind the camera, but also gets involved in the events himself.
In this masterclass, Tamadon explains how, in this emotionally sensitive and highly political context, his films become an act of resistance against political oppression and discusses how an examination of the past is always also ‘an interrogation of the present and an interrogation of power relations’. The camera becomes an instrument for catharsis and carries the hope of evoking understanding and remorse in his political counterpart.
Masterclass held in English.
In cooperation with
Film Screenings:
MON PIRE ENNEMI – MY WORST ENEMY
JAII KEH KHODA NIST – WHERE GOD IS NOT
JAII KEH KHODA NIST
MON PIRE ENNEMI
Biography
Graduated as an architect, Mehran Tamadon directed Behesht Zahra, Mothers of Martyrs in 2004, then Bassidji in 2010, in which he attempted to dialogue with the defenders of the Iranian regime. He continued this approach with Iranian, where he convinced supporters of the regime to live in cohabitation with him. His new films, My Worst Enemy and Where God Is Not, presented at the Berlinale in 2023, deal with the violence of interrogation and detention in Iran.
