Director: Sajad Soleymani
Writer: Sajad Soleymani
Cast: Niusha Shahrivari, Praham Khakzad, Mohammadsaeed Ahangar
Running time: 19mins
Film festivals are expensive – and so they often struggle to break even, let alone make a profit. With submission fees often posing as the only dependable source of revenue that many festivals have access to, that can make granting waivers difficult.
Stories told by artists working on a shoe-string budget, or who are hit by censorship, or subjected to international sanctions, still need a platform, though. That’s why Indy Film Library’s Saturday Matinees series has returned for a fifth season.
Over this most recent run of matinees, IFL is showcasing work from places where monetary and legal constraints have prevented the free and easy communication of their artistic or political visions.
The fifth film in our free-to-view programme is Ker, a short relationship drama from Iranian filmmaker Sajad Soleymani. It’s a meditation on the national gender politics, with a twist. We don’t find ourselves pitted against the overt, violent repression of the Revolutionary Guard here, but rather come face to face with a more insipid form of ideological control.
In the wake of a number of huge protest movements that have taken aim at how Iran oppresses women across the country, the most interesting thing about Ker’s story is that it centres on what we in Europe or the US might term a ‘nice guy’. That’s not a label to be taken literally, there is nothing to enjoy about the cowardly, underhanded behaviour of Mohammad (Praham Khakzad) here – but like so many men around the world who want to be seen as somehow separate from the patriarchal order of things, however much his actions align with that, he would like us to believe he is only begrudgingly behaving the way he does out of respect, and honour.
After his long-distance lover Sahba (Niusha Shahrivari) turns up one night, she begins a sad process of learning for herself just how limited the differences are between the two. Having fled an arranged marriage, she seeks refuge with Mohammad, who has spun her some tall tales about a gilded life with servants and money – only to reveal he is actually employed in a form of military service, guarding a mosque. Sahba is expected to hide under Mohammad’s bed during the day, so that his superiors do not realise a woman is hiding in his quarters. At night, she is permitted to come out, but Mohammad is distant, removed – shrinking from her touch.
When the film reaches its conclusion, Mohammad very much lives up to the ironic ‘nice guy’ tag. Moving behind the back of the woman who trusted him at her most vulnerable time, he ultimately robs her of the limited agency she had carved out for herself, under the pretence of doing ‘what’s best for her’. But ultimately, as he feigns tears of regret, it boils down to doing what is most convenient for him, most conducive to maintaining his own privilege within Iranian society, above all else.
Impeccably acted – particularly by the restrained, believable Shahrivari – and beautifully lit (keep an eye out for a scene towards the end, in which the crew use the shadows of the room after dark to tell a story about the couple’s strained, distant bond), Ker delivers an accomplished technical and thematic watch, which is well worth checking out this weekend.
The film will be available to view for free in full from 09:00 UK time on Saturday the 21st of February, until the end of Sunday, via our Saturday Matinees theatre page. Viewers will also be invited to rate the film out of five, to help determine the winner of this Saturday Matinees season.
As the film is still trying to gain access to other festivals, the page is password protected. Use the code IFLMATINEE26 to access the film.
Stay tuned for our final film next week!