This screening is a part of the series "Hesitant Eyes, Turbulent Bodies: Documentaries on Contemporary Iran and Afghanistan".

What we see is not always what we expect to see. What we hear might just be static noise coming from afar. Nevertheless, we always yearn to see, to absorb, to imagine, to go beyond the here and now—especially if there is no other way to connect but through images. These three films by young Afghan and Iranian filmmakers are, above all, stories meant to unsettle the imagination. They create movements that flow between the films, between cities and urban landscapes, and between countries. They present visual experiences that not only urge the viewer to reflect but also to pause, to feel unhinged, and to observe the precarious lives of bodies whose passion and fierceness are often obstructed by a plethora of violence and uncertainty.

Impasse (2023): Rahmaneh Rabani is a 37-year-old Iranian woman, born and raised in an observant Muslim household. After the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iranian authorities in the autumn of 2022, mass protests ignited one of the largest women’s rights movements in recent Iranian history. With the protests raging outside of her window, Rabani picks up her camera to document honest, direct, often emotional conversations with her family members as she attempts to understand the women and men around her who remain steadfastly opposed to equal rights for women.

Location: Critical Media Lab, Peterson Hall, Room 108.