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Work and Work

Kar o Kar

Director, Script: Fuad Afravi
Photography: Hassan Emadi
Editing: Fuad Afravi, Syruss Jarrahzade
Sound: Mehran Malakouti
Producer: Fariba Kowsari
Source: Mamad Haghighat
CINEMA QUARTIER LATIN
9, rue de Champollion F-78005 Paris FRANCE
Phone: 33-1-43268465 / Fax: 33-1-43319106
IRAN / 1996 / Turkish / Color / 16mm / 42 min

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Fuad Afravi

Born in 1959. Received B.A. in 1988 from the Faculty of Art, Tehran University. Now professional photographer. Work and Work has been shown at Festival Cinéma du Réel Paris (March 97) and Fribourg Documentary Film Festival (97). Its first public release was at Cinema du Quartier Latin in Paris in April 1997.

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From Iran, Work and Work provides a unique visual From Iran, Work and Work provides a unique visual tapestry of life in the Zandjan province. Ways of working, rhythms of life: in the village, we see the precise gestures of a blind old woman weaving a carpet. In the town, the carpet sellers play the game and ritual handed down over the decades. The fable-like quality of the images, the charming conversation between an old couple, the humorous movements of life in the desert leave us with a warm, glowing feeling and respect for the ancient.

Director's Statement

An ensemble of objects and people with no apparent link, whether in motion or immobile, has its own history.

There are no genres in cinema. The question of the real or documentary means nothing to me. The cinema cannot be the simple image of the real. It is the image of its director. For me, the image is simply the image of the director. Put yourself behind a camera for several hours to film a single tree. Little by little your imagination will start working. You will be able to imagine the life the tree and the history of its leaves. In letting your imagination run freely you will witness the arrival of a bird. In Persian we call cinema of the real "filme mostanad" in other words, what is documented and real.

During a workers' strike you could simply make a documentary and journalistic report. The director can however, if he wants make a film about his real truth; the film can expose the director's self to himself.

There are no genres. Everything originates from "le réalisateur," the director. The cinema is the reflection of man.



 




Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee