Mourning

Melwood Screening Room: May 12 Prudential Event @ 4:30 PM , Movie Start @6:30 PM
Film Screening Sponsored by Prudential Financial

[pre film reception by invitation only] 

Melwood Screening Room: May 16 @ 9:00 PM

Passes not accepted on Opening/Closing Night. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of start time to ensure availability of seating. Film schedule and Q & A's are subject to change.

 

 
Co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2012 film series. For more information, visit www.globalfilm.org
2011/Iran/Director: Morteza Farshbaf/85 min.
Cast: Sharareh Pasha, Kiomars Giti, Amir Hossein Maleki, Adel Yaraghi (Language: Farsi and sign language with English subtitles)
Festivals and Awards: Tokyo, Pusan, BFI Lodon Intl Film Festival
Groundbreaking and thought-provoking, Kiarostami disciple Morteza Farshbaf’s Mourning  uses an ingenious narrative technique to tell a highly original slice-of-life story. 
After an argument conducted in total darkness Young  Arshia’s (Amir Hossein Maleki) parents leave him in the middle of the night during a family visit, taking off for Tehran in their car.  
Arshia becomes the, ostensibly,  temporary ward of his hearing impaired Aunt Kamran  and Uncle Shahreh (portrayed by real-life couple Kiomars Giti and Sharareh Pasha)  as they drive south to Tehran, in search of his parents.  Mourning essentially becomes, then, a road trip movie. However,  Farshbaf employs the innovative narrative device of watching the deaf couple sign entire conversations, while Archia sits in the back seat of their SUV- seemingly unaware of the developments being discussed and how they will affect his future. We watch as the couple interacts with the general public and come to appreciate what accommodations they have made to fully participate in society. These accommodations and frustrations come to the fore as we learn the fate of Arshia’s parents and Kamran and Shahreh discuss the family’s complicated history. 
Revelations about the characters abilities force us to question our own assumptions.  Persian landscapes and encounters with the minor characters along the way color Mourning with a multi-layered palette.