Masāfāt: Artists’ Film Club: Arash Nassiri + Q&A

This solo-screening of works by French-Iranian filmmaker Arash Nassiri, features two recent experimental films, together with a new work in progress. This is the first screening of his work in the UK.

Tehran-Geles
(2014, 18 mins)

Tehran-Geles is a fictional vision of Tehran that uses Los Angeles as its set. During an aerial journey, we discover an uncanny landscape. While flying over boulevards, personal memories of migrants create an echo of the collective story of the Iranian capital. Downtown, the buildings are saturated with neon signs, pulsating with voices that take us on a hallucinatory trip.

Darwin-Darwah
(2016, 12 mins)

   "Evolution is a fairy tale for grown ups."

During a single trip through Paris catacombs, a voiceover tells of hidden underground cities and hidden connections through civilizations. While narrating, artifacts from museums historical collections appear as fossils on the walls, tracing an alternative history.

New-Days (work in progress)
(2016, 25 mins)

At night, the inhabitants of Los Angeles become host to memories of Tehran.  They no longer speak English, but a Persian idiom. Neon lights fill the streets with psychedelic colors. This ephemeral and mutant territory was filmed during the Persian celebrations in Spring.

Produced by Jonas Films / Elsa Klughertz and Mathias Holst.

Made with the kind support of Han Nefkens foundation, FNAGP and CNAP.

Arash Nassiri is winner of the Press Award, Les Enfants Terribles, Huy, Belgium (2014); the Best Experimental Short Film Award, festival Côté-Court Pantin, Paris, France (2014); and the RMIT University Award for Best Experimental Short Film, Melbourne Int. Film Festival, Australia (2015). His film works have been exhibited at the Triennale of Istabul (2010), the Venice Architecture Biennial, the Biennale de Lyon as part of the Palais de Tokyo group exhibition Le Parfait Flâneur (2015), Fundacio Sunnol, Barcelona (2016) and the Shanghai Himalaya Museum (2016).

Masāfāt Music Pass: attend all four Masāfāt music events for £40

Masāfāt is a two-part festival taking place in London and Cairo this September. The festival is designed to create an open-ended, international platform to foster artistic and professional exchange between independent artists and professionals across the Middle East, North Africa and the UK.