SHAHID
synopsis
A wildly clever film that’s part reality, part fiction, part theatre and part musical. Director Narges Shahid Kalhor directs an actor playing a version of herself. She doesn’t want to be called “Shahid” (martyr) anymore, and is determined to change her name. Then, her heroic great-grandfather turns up – given the title of martyr 100 years ago in Iran – from whom his descendants inherited the name. He wants to dissuade his great-granddaughter, and shadows her in her quest along with his dancing friends. The Bavarian district administration sends her to a psychologist, who also has a difficult name… In the end, everyone is hindered: the director by bureaucracy, the actor by the director’s demands, her great-grandfather by his descendant’s determination and the film by itself. The winds of history blow her round and round in circles, through the scenic German town and through her own film shoot, as stereotypes and privileges are shaken up performatively and inventively, all while having a lot of fun along the way. Ambiguous autofiction with visual arcs, songs and poems: a tragicomic, defiant act of self-empowerment in exile.
international title: | Shahid |
original title: | Shahid |
country: | Germany |
sales agent: | Filmotor |
year: | 2024 |
genre: | fiction |
directed by: | Narges Kalhor |
film run: | 84' |
screenplay: | Narges Kalhor, Aydin Alinejad |
cast: | Baharak Abdolifard, Nima Nazarinia, Narges Kalhor, Thomas Sprekelsen, Carine Huber, saLeh roZati, Noah Schuler, Lili Pongratz, Alon Bracha, Zuki Izak Ringart, Roman Singh, Ludger Lamers, Nina Wesemann |
cinematography by: | Felix Pflieger |
film editing: | Frank J. Müller, Narges Kalhor |
art director: | Ann-Kristin Büttner |
costumes designer: | Künstlerin aus dem Iran |
music: | Marja Burchard |
producer: | Michael Kalb |
production: | Michael Kalb Filmproduktion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) |