by Maryam Tafakory, 2021, 8'
Presented at the 15th edition of Lo schermo dell'arte, 2021
The film is part of VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images - 11th edition
Using excerpts of films produced between 1990 and 2018, this video essay by di Maryam Tafakory questions the innocence of bags in post-revolution Iranian cinema. Here, bags are often deployed as surrogates for human touch, sometimes with hilarious effects.
Irani Bag deconstructs a cinematographic motif in order to propose a powerful textual and political analysis of censorship and intimacy in post-revolution Iran, inviting the spectator to reconsider the relationship between sight and touch.
In 2022 the film won the Barbara Hammer Feminist Film Award at 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Maryam Tafakory (Shiraz, Iran, 1987) lives and works between Shiraz and London. Her work has been exhibited internationally including; MoMA Doc Fortnight New York, IFFR Rotterdam; ICA London; HKW Berlin; M HKA Antwerp; Videonale Kunstmuseum Bonn, Anthology Film Archives New York. ​She was awarded the Ammodo Tiger Short Award at 51st IFFR, Barbara Hammer Feminist Film Award at 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Fugas Award at Documenta Madrid, and Best Short Film at Festival de Cine Lima Independiente.
www.maryamtafakory.com