In 1976, there was a call to boycott the Shiraz Arts Festival. Some well-known international artists joined immediately; others reluctantly. “The giants aren’t coming this year,” wrote the Iranian newspaper Kayhan.
Between fragments of films commissioned by the Shah and the films and books banned in the same years are stories that first began with ‘crime-producing’ poems – each returning to a fire that never stopped burning.
Ghazal-e Sorkh
a film by
“a testament of the limitlessness of non-fiction cinematic expression”
“a testament of the limitlessness of non-fiction cinematic expression”
Maryam Tafakory
Biography
Maryam Tafakory, born and raised in Iran, works with film and performance. Solo screenings of her work include MoMA, BOZAR, National Gallery of Art, and Academy Museum, among others. Selected screenings include Tate Modern, Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, New York Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival.
Selected awards include, Gold Hugo at 58th Chicago Int’l Film Festival, Tiger Short Award at 51st IFFR, and Best Experimental Film at 70th and 71st MIFF. She was the 2024 winner of Film London Jarman Award. Her work has featured in The Guardian, Le Monde, and Les Cahiers du Cinéma.
Filmography
● Ghazal-e Sorkh (2026) – 19′
● Daria’s Night Flowers (2025) – 16′
● Razeh-del (2024) – 28′
● Mast-del (2023) – 17′
● Nazarbazi (2021) – 19′
● Irani Bag (2020) – 8′
● I Have Sinned a Rapturous Sin (2017) – 9′
● Absent Wound (2016) – 8′
● Poem & Stone (2015) – 8′
● Fragments of a Letter (2014) – 4′
● Taklif (2014) – 6′
● I was five (2014) – 5′
