|
"The Siren", which premiered in the Berlinale's
Panorama section on Thursday, is set against the backdrop of the
war that started in 1980 and ground on for eight years, claiming
up to 2 million lives.
Farsi lives in Paris and has been banned from her homeland since
2009, after defying government restrictions to portray life in
the country through documentaries and feature films.
This film tells the story of 14-year-old Omid, who plays
football and watches cockfights before his hometown of Abadan is
obliterated by Iraqi forces.
Farsi was determined to tell another story from what she said
governments in Iran had done by glorifying the war with films
honouring martyrs.
"The narratives of the regime, of that war, are very
particular," Farsi told Reuters. "They kind of hijacked that war
and the revolution as being their own."
Farsi depicts death and sorrow with expressionistic intensity,
with missiles exploding in roads, bodies strewn across
battlefields and an oil refinery bursting into flames.
She said showing such realities of war was her personal form of
resistance. "That's why it's relevant to what's happening in
Iran now, because now we have an independent revolution led by
women," she said.
Protests rocked Iran overnight after a seeming slowdown in
recent weeks, with marchers calling for the overthrow of the
Islamic Republic, online videos purported to show on Friday.
Iran was swept by protests following the death of a young
Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country's morality
police last September. Iranians from all walks of life have
taken part, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic
Republic since the 1979 revolution.
The authorities have accused Iran's foreign enemies of fomenting
the protests.
Making the film as an animation allowed Farsi to evoke the city
of Abadan, which was razed during the war.
"Animation really seemed like the right medium to tell this
story from the beginning, because it gives you a lot of freedom
to rebuild things that do not exist," she said.
(Reporting by James Imam; Editing by Alison Williams)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.]
|
|
