THIRD EDITION program eleven

Mother’s Apricot Compote – Nia Fekri

23:23 · Iran/France/UK · 2020

A fragmentary narrative of two women whose lives are distant from each other yet hold traces of one another. This film conjures the ghosts that hover over the day to day lives of these two women; it is a rumination on the experience of the immigrant within and without the diaspora and the ways in which personal/familial memory seeps through the surface of everyday life.

Zajr (Agony) – Ahmad Salaj

2:59 · Iran/Canada · 2016

“Zajr” depicts the loss of identity and place.

Distance – Sadaf Khajeh

8:57 · Canada/Iran · 2020

“Distance” is a short film that follows the daily routines of two Iranian women, Dorsa and Sadaf, in a long-distance friendship. Shot during the pandemic, it captures what it feels like to have an attachment to someone whose presence takes place in another space as well as a different time. In the process of making the film, the concept of time and space became more pronounced for Dorsa and Sadaf who found collaborating on different time zones and places a very unique experience. This inspired them to document their collaborative process which became yet another source of an irrational longing to physically reach each other. Through using unscripted passive daily dialogues, “Distance” also glances at our perception of reality and existence, especially during times when we feel most isolated and unreachable.

Jardins Paradise – Yza Nouiga

5:24 · Morocco/France/Canada · 2020

Garden of Eden, jardin à la française, English, Zen, Bahai, Arab-Islamic: gardens reflect history, culture and heritage. They are some of the rare places where intimacy, gatherings, fun and religion coexist. “Jardins Paradise” ironically diverts the image of the garden as the embodiment of some paradisiacal Eden. It highlights the civic inventiveness of communities stigmatised by a lack of greenery in their neighbourhood as well as the contribution of ethnocultural diversity to the urban landscape.

The film imagines young members of the Arab diaspora in Montreal using the means at hand to develop a secular and democratic version of the Arab-Islamic style garden. A parking lot, an arid zone much like the deserts where these gardens originally emerged, has been rehabilitated into an ephemeral garden. In being faithful to the main components of the Arab-Islamic style, the water source is the centrepiece: squares of plants occupy the parking spaces, as well as flowers and fruits, and contemplation is the main activity. Nature is presented artificially, as it is only a momentary paradise, that of individual leisure.

And, what if Paradise was nothing more than a green parking lot designed to suit each and everyone’s own preferences?

Destierro – Camille Pueyo

3:15 · France/Spain · 2020

This video was made from VHS family movies shot by the artist’s father at his parents’ place and on Argelès beach. The voice of a Spanish grandfather sharing his experience of republican exile and civil war meets the voice of a father about his own experience of being the son of Spanish refugees. The dialogue between past and present drives this transgenerational film about the trauma of war and the intimate consequences of exile.

Inbetweenness – Mona Kasra

5:30 · Iran/USA · 2020

“Inbetweenness” alludes to the ambiguities of deterritorialization and of hybrid cultural identity. It navigates a destabilising state of diasporic existence by reimagining and experiencing childhood home through digital mapping tools. Searching for traces of the past within satellite imagery, aerial photography, and 360 photography, Kasra yearns for a sense of belonging to her homeland.