Daniel Asadi Faezi

Narges Shahid Kalhor is a director seeking to be rid of the “Shahid” (martyrs), who are too heavy a burden. From Bavarian bureaucracy and therapy to dancing with Iran’s past generations and their long shadows, she twirls through a heady autofiction.

A summer’s day in a former German military barrack: children forced to flee Ukraine have found refuge here. In their games, they discover military symbols from the past and link them to their experiences.

The Balkan war of the 1990s was the cause of the disappearance of thousands of people. Their mortal remains are in danger of remaining lost forever. Bereaved families and survivors place their hopes in excavations and in the work of science.

Munich, 3079. In a world without sun, the survivors fight their last war. Loneliness is the enemy. A young man is driven by his broken heart to make a fateful decision.

The Aral “Sea” powerfully reveals the deadly impact of human activities—in this case, the intensive cultivation of cotton in the USSR—on an ecosystem. Daniel Asadi Faezi (The Absence of Apricots, VdR 2018) and Mila Zhluktenko (Find Fix Finish, VdR 2017) film the shore’s last inhabitants, who have lost their way of life to the desertification of their environment. A beautiful and poignant work about our probable future.

Lake Urmia in Northern Iran was once the largest lake in the Middle East. Human influence set brought upon a devastating drought that the lake could not withstand. Today, just 5% of the original lake remains. Lake Urmia in Northern Iran was once the largest lake in the Middle East. Human influence set brought upon a devastating drought that the lake could not withstand. Today, just 5% of the original lake remains.

A documentary fairy-tale about the struggle for identity in the Hunza Valley set in a village located in the Northern-Pakistan somewhere between the past and the future. A magnificent turquoise lake in between rough, steep cliff surrounds the small village. But the lake hasn’t been always there. One day, an enormous landslide blocked a river. In a few months, this river turned into a huge lake, which is now up to 30km long. Thousands of homes and fields were flooded. Entire villages disappeared forever. Thousands of people got dislocated and had to look for different places where to live. What is left are the stories of those that once used to live there which are passed on from generation to generation.

A documentary fairy-tale about the struggle for identity in the Hunza Valley set in a village located in the Northern-Pakistan somewhere between the past and the future. A magnificent turquoise lake in between rough, steep cliff surrounds the small village. But the lake hasn’t been always there. One day, an enormous landslide blocked a river. In a few months, this river turned into a huge lake, which is now up to 30km long. Thousands of homes and fields were flooded. Entire villages disappeared forever. Thousands of people got dislocated and had to look for different places where to live. What is left are the stories of those that once used to live there which are passed on from generation to generation.

Takatak is a dish and a profession. The sounds of the maker's knife and his movements merge into an aesthetic performance – a soundcarpet of natural and unnatural noise. The man gets distracted by the observation of hawks in the sky. They are gliding, they are chasing each other, they observe the world below them.

Skateboarding is still a new sport in Iran, which turns skaters into an exotic curiosity, watched sceptically on the streets. Joining two guys, Ali and Erfan, and one girl, Elham, on the skateboard “Kids of Tehran” explores not only the streets of Tehran but also the homes of these three skaters.

Skateboarding is still a new sport in Iran, which turns skaters into an exotic curiosity, watched sceptically on the streets. Joining two guys, Ali and Erfan, and one girl, Elham, on the skateboard “Kids of Tehran” explores not only the streets of Tehran but also the homes of these three skaters.

One would not expect less life than in the desert of central Iran. But there is one man facing the power of nature: Mohammad Arefi is a shepherd - body and soul. For more than two generations his family has been doing this demanding job. Every day he takes care of over 300 goats and sheep.

In Search of explores the reasons and consequences of the progressive disappearing of the Pashtun culture along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.