“I was born in a geographical boundary where there are more definitions and policies for gender than being human. Feminine and masculine are definitions I have always been faced with since birth. The interference of these connotations in my daily life and work, have rendered me great confusion with regards to my being and existence and my gender as a woman. It’s become tremendously bothersome in my life and in this society. I was no longer a woman nor was I a man; but a confused entity in search of herself in the narrow channels of tradition and history. In this probe, I heard the boisterous laughter and chant of women from behind lofty walls that have for centuries been erected for us. I saw many women and listened to their voices. By these voices, the walls crumbled down. I was prompted to depict them; in silence, stuck in tradition, turned to commodity by modernity yet rebellious and determined, I found myself. A piece from a consistent whole whose sleeve was wet from tears.”
Screening dates:
Farzaneh Forouzesh, And her sleeve wet with tears, 2023
15 April–10 May 2024
© the artist
About the artist:
Farzaneh Forouzesh, born in 1989, graduated in music from Tehran University of Arts, majoring in Iranian musical instrument ‘Taar’. She is an Iranian filmmaker, film critic, translator and musician. She started writing about movies as a film critic in prestigious Iranian publications, including the international magazine Cinema Verite and the magazine Picture World, and in 2021, she started her first activity in the field of filmmaking as the executive producer and assistant of director of The Annoyed, directed by Mehdi Fard Ghaderi. In 2023, Forouzesh made her first film as a writer, producer and director – titled And her sleeve wet with tears.
