The Old Man from Hera
Pir e Hira is a documentary directed by Mahvash Shekholeslami, made by the Iran's Young Film Makers' Union. This documentary opens a widow for viewers to look at life in the southern shores of Iran. Mahvash Shekholeslami manages to establish a meaningful link between the documentary films and anthropological/sociological studies.
Perhaps it is for this reason that is was selected for the Iranian Ethnographic Film Day: The Persian Gulf and Its People Through Image held at the British Museum. The event was jointly organised by Professor Bill Beeman, Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, USA) and Dr Pedram Khosronejad, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews, Scotland, with financial support from the Houtan Foundation, USA, and collaboration of Iranian Documentary Film makers Association, Iran, and Documentary and Experimental Film Centre, Iran.
The film is about an elderly male who lives a lonely life on the Qeshm Island in Southern Iran. It shows glimpses from the man's struggle to sustain himself conducting different chores between dawn and dusk. Thus we find him mending his net and placing it along the path of a stream when water has receded. Going back to cook his lunch, resting in the afternoon before returning to the fishing site for the night.
The portrayal of silence and pain of loneliness speaks volumes leaving little need for sound effects or any background music.Without many dialogues, it is the camera that narrates the story of the old man's struggle effectively, without depending on any secondary means. In the words of Dr Pedram Khosronejad, curator and co-host of the the Iranian Ethnographic Film Day, the images allow the viewers to perceive the way they chose to. A spectator is able to appreciate the hardships through which the old fisherman goes through each day.
For further information see:
Iranian Documentary Film Makers Association
http://www.irandocfilm.org/aboutusen.asp
پیر حرا؛ فیلم مستند، کارگردان: مهوش شیخ
Iran's Visual Media Institute
http://www.visualmediains.com/
http://www.rasaneha.org/index.php
http://cinemamuseum.ir/en/
Iranian Alliance of Motion Pictures Guilds
http://www.honar.ac.ir/en/sitemap/organization.htm
http://www.iranartists.org/en/
http://www.irandocfilm.org/aboutusen.asp
http://www.tajasomi.ir/Default.aspx?page=835
http://www.irandocfilm.org/aboutusen.asp
http://www.tajasomi.ir/Default.aspx?page=835
Accelerating freedom, Interview with filmmaker Mahvash Sheikholeslami, http://bit.ly/sIRVAr
«پير حرا»،
http://bit.ly/tUMEbl
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