From 12 to 16 December 2023 at Ygrec-ENSAPC
As part of an international partnership between the Cité international des arts (Paris) and École nationale supérieure d’art de Paris-Cergy, the Iranian documentary film director Shirin Barghnavard has been invited as a « guest artist lecturer » to live and work in Paris from October to December 2023. Simultaneously to her residency she has developed a 3 months’ workshop with ENSAPC’ students, entitled The Art of Documentary Narrative. To conclude her residency and workshop Shirin Barghnavard has been invited to present some of her recent documentary films and a selection of shorts films produced by ENSAPC’ students during the workshop.
The 5 days event entitled The Cinema of Resistance features 4 films directed, or co-directed by Shirin Barghnavard.
According to Shirin Barghnavard: “How does the camera operate in the hands of filmmakers facing political and economic repression? Living under the control of a dictatorial system that seeks to regulate every aspect of one’s life, one’s art gradually transforms into a tool of resistance. The practice of the Cinema of Resistance has emerged in various countries, including Iran, where independent filmmakers have engaged in this form of activism in recent years.
There exist shared commonalities and approaches among independent artists and filmmakers worldwide, constituting a collective resistance against the hegemony of dominant situations. This rebellion takes shape through the integration of image, sound, music, and text—a harmonious interweaving of personal narratives, observations, oral history, and imagery sourced from both family and historical archives.
During the upcoming event, I will provide an overview of The Cinema of Resistance, exploring how to respond to the struggle for change through artistic expression. ”
Biography
Shirin Barghnavard’s documentaries focus on social issues, particularly the impact of politics and war on society, with notable films like Density of Emptiness (2023) and Invisible (2019). Her works have been showcased at international film festivals, earning her awards such as the Tim Hetherington Award (Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK) and the Special Jury Award (Green Film Festival, Seoul, Korea). Working at Kara Film Studio from 2015 to 2018, known for independent documentary productions in Tehran, Shirin has received residency fellowships from institutions like Cité internationale des arts (Paris) and Harun Farocki Institute (Berlin). She conducts film workshops globally and has served as a jury member for the ‘Change of View’ Film Award at the Filmfest Hamburg.
Program
Tuesday 12.12.23
Invisible
2019, 27 minutes, English subtitles
Director and Producer: Shirin Barghnavard and Mohammad Reza Jahanpanah
Time schedules: Screening from 2.00 pm to 6.30 pm / screening at 7.00 pm with director Shirin Barghnavard.
Wednesday 13.12.23
Scenes from a Divorce
2015, 73 minutes, French subtitles
Director and Producer: Shirin Barghnavard and Mohammad Reza Jahanpanah
Time schedules: Screening from 2.00 pm to 6.30 pm / screening at 7.00 pm with director Shirin Barghnavard.
Thursday 14.12.23
Density of Emptiness
2023, 19 minutes, English subtitles
“Avant-première”
Director: Shirin Barghnavard
Producer: Afsun Moshiry and Baptiste Bertin
Project Consultant: Wim Wenders and Hella Wenders
Time schedules: Screening from 2.00 pm to 6.30 pm / screening at 7.00 pm with director Shirin Barghnavard.
Friday 15.12.23
Profession: Documentarist
2014, 80 minutes, English subtitles
Director and Producer: Shirin Barghnavard, Nahid Rezaei, Mina Keshavarz, Farahnaz Sharifi, Sepideh
Abtahi, Firouzeh Khosrovani and Sahar Salahshoor.
Time schedules: Screening from 2.00 pm to 6.30 pm / screening at 7.00 pm with director Shirin Barghnavard.
8.30 pm: The screening will be followed by a discussion between Shirin Barghnavard, Sahar Salahshoor
(Film Director), Nicole Fernández Ferrer (Co-president of the Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir)
moderated by Guillaume Breton (Artistic director of Centre d’art Ygrec-ENSAPC).
Saturday 16.12.23
Screening of 8 shorts films produced by ENSAPC students during the 3 months’ workshop entitled The Art of Documentary Narrative led by Shirin Barghnavard.
Sex Workers Among Us (Marion Ravel, Cay Rauscher and Valentine Houot-Braun)
Ice Cubes First (Beatriz Tavares Gomes, Elise Bonnelle, Gabriel LE Prisé and Felix Szpirglas)
Operation Dragoon (Paula Petit and Sveva Diolaiti)
The Star Drank Water (Soli Jeon and Jeongwon Go)
Menarche (Olympia Rezgui, Hanieh mahmoudiyekta and Ines Bahraoui)
The House of Lost Memories (Gloria Mendes, Raoul Gadish and Lily Meulé)
The Tower (Emma Bert-Lazli, Lily Meulé and Yujin Choung)
no adab (Selma Hyka and kenza Belkadi)
Time schedules: Screenings from 4 pm to 6 pm with students and director Shirin Barghnavard.
Image : Sepideh Abtahi, behind the scenes of ‘Profession Documentarist’, Photo by Farahnaz Sharifi
