Shahid

In this autofictional film, the boundaries between reality and fiction, bureaucracy and fantasy are blurred. The director fights to drop the martyr title “Shahid” from her name. Still, her great-grandfather, who was once pronounced a martyr, stands in her way. In an absurd mix of humor, music, and theatrics, Narges Kalhor sets out on a journey to examine her Iranian roots.

In her autofictional film, director Narges Kalhor reveals a complex arena of tension in identity politics. Central to this is the issue of female identity in her home country, Iran, and in Germany, as well as the language that characterizes this identity. Narges Kalhor wants to drop the middle part of her name, “Shahid”, considering its meaning, “martyr”, a heavy burden. The name goes back to her great-grandfather who was given the honorary title in accordance with religious and political myths in Iran, and passed it on unwittingly to his descendants.

Narges Kalhor approaches this inheritance with an abundance of humor and some cinematic tricks: The legendary ancestor appears alongside his companions as ghostly figures who dance around the director's cinematic double while trying to win her back. The camera floats with them through film sets, while the protagonist struggles with bureaucratic hurdles and psychological assessments. Reality and fiction, documentation and performance, theatre, shadow play, and Persian pictorial tradition intertwine into an ambiguous mix carried by music and absurd humor.

Image © Leonie Huber