VERDICT: An utterly captivating found footage collage that pieces together a sensuous history of intimacy in Iranian post-revolution cinema where depictions of physical contact are prohibited.
The screen positively shimmers in Maryam Tafakory’s compilation film, Nazarbazi. The title, translated from Farsi, means ‘the play of glances.’ This poetic notion underpins an exploration of the gestures and compositions that Iranian filmmakers inserted to replace prohibited physical contact between men and women on screen. Such interactions were banned in cinema after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and Tafakory’s thoughtful and lyrical essay pulls together clippings from more than 80 films, made from the 1980s onwards, to examine the artistic reactions and repercussions.
The effect of Tafakory’s 19-minute montage is to create a palpable sense of the sexual tension that can be imbued into the ostensibly commonplace. The audience of Nazarbazi is given a crash course in the coded languages built into Iranian cinema over decades to allow love and desire to burn from the screen without breaking the rules. These range from the more immediately recognisable – furtive glimpses from a distance or the holding of the same object by two people – to the more obliquely suggestive – the hint of skin on a necklace being washed in a river or the crumpling of a piece of paper in a hand. As part of Tafakory’s intuitive design, the arcing curve of a handrail or the jangling of bracelets on a wrist become loaded with tactility and meaning.
The archival footage that Tafakory brings together is enriched by the similarly compiled accompanying text. It combines the filmmakers’ own thoughts and reflections with quotations and excerpts from Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlu, poet and filmmaker Forugh Farrokhzad, and philosopher Jacques Derrida, among others. Expressive musings on the nature and politics of touching, repression, and censorship are playful and poignant creating deeper layers of meaning. That’s assuming audiences can focus on such depths amidst the seductive tumult of Nazarbazi’s evocative imagery.
Director, editor: Maryam Tafakory
Production company: Film and Video Umbrella (UK)
Venue: Rotterdam International Film Festival (Ammodo Tiger Shorts Competition)
In Farsi
19 minutes