Niyaz

 It has taken nearly two weeks for me to gather enough concentration to write this. We are in another war. The Iranian regime, the United States, and Israel are at war. There were royalist groups encouraging war as a means of liberation—an interventionist strategy that has never worked. Yet the assumption was that Iran is somehow too exceptional to follow the same patterns repeated across the region and throughout history. There is not much to expect from a war led by a U.S. president whose judgment is widely questioned, alongside another leader already under an arrest warrant from the ICC for war crimes. Some danced with joy when the attacks began. I don’t know how many are still dancing two weeks later. Some screamed—both with joy and with fear. Some are simply afraid. In our geography, the will of the people is rarely the only force shaping history. Those in power—inside and outside the country—follow their own agendas and ideologies. Though they may appear very different ...

Since the last time I wrote here, unfolding events in Iran have carried such unbearable weight that it felt impossible to do anything but grieve, think, reflect on the repeated cycles of history, and try to stay connected with friends and family. The massacre of Iranian protesters on the 8th and 9th of January 2026, two record-breaking weeks of a complete internet and communications blackout ,the gradual emergence of images — thousands upon thousands of bodies, piled in black body bags, families desperately searching for their loved ones. Each of these dark moments alone would take months, even years, to process. They have scarred and wounded the soul of a nation. And they have created an untameable and powerful potential its direction remains unknown. I look back at my older posts here, where I wrote about the polarisation of ideas among people — among close friends and within families. Now, hard-line, anger-fuelled movements are taking over. Meanwhile, global powers circle, each...

  So much has happened since August, internally and externally. I went to Iran to visit my dad and in the short visit; I  managed to meet the great Left Bank collective in Tehran and had the most amazing day of showing films and running a super 8 workshop. It is beyond my words to explain the feeling of meeting the inspiring and talented young filmmakers. The fresh blood for the future, the youth of the nation.I am hoping to work on the material we shot and see where we can take it. I screened Essy’s film in a small Cafe, The house of Theory in the vibrant neighbourhood of Iran Shahr. Essy lays his small stall along with other mostly young traders close to this café. It was great to bring him, his friends of his generation, passer byes and regulars of the café, some old and new friends  together to watch his story. Essy had difficult life in recent years but he is still  strong and always full of joyous ideas for life. There is so much to carry emotionally .The...

This has been the longest gap in the relatively routine flow of posts in this blog. The war turned everything upside down. Even  though I witnessed the explosions and destruction of my home town , from a distance and through the drips of videos captured by Tehranians who stayed, there is no doubt that the period of so called 12 days war, have reshaped us all, inside and outside the country. After such a period,there comes a time of re assessing, re evaluation and re defining. Everything finds new meaning and this affects all aspects of life. It is not only one's relationship to her country,  her homeland but also human relationships, friendships , reflecting on how true or untrue they are, family, motherhood, basic moral grounds like belief in peace and humanity  can easily be shaken by  the violence of war. The polarities become even more extreme and it is even harder to defend one's belief in human values. Closest people become far apart, distant people become cl...

 On Friday 13'th of June, Isreal started a full on invasion of Iran.We are officially in War.Walnut of Knowledge is now in post production stage.I don't have much to add.I am still greiving and digesting what is happening to my home town, country and people.

  I have now passed the first daunting first round of editing Walnut of Knowledge. The phase that the first draft of film comes together and finally I can see what I had in mind in a physical time line. After this, it is all about watching, sharing and tweaking. I am so excited to work with Rob for creating the soundscape of the film. In the mean time, Ripple Effect was part of amazing Revolution per minute Festival . I also had a short contribution to Parking VideoLibrary ’s programme at Kotti-shop, Berlin, The Sleep Cycles .

  I am doing my day job and trying to edit Walnut of Knowledge.I have amazing material with the help the great team I was lucky to work with and loads of personal and family archive along with lots of sounds and conversations I have colleted like a magpie. Editting is like knitting and some times like surgery.It is about layers of information and how to gradually inject them in to the main base line of the film. It takes time to find the connections and injection points but when you find them and they seem to work, it is the greatest pleasure.  

 It was truly excting to work with a team of great artists for shooting scenes from Walnut of Knowledge. I noticed how much I missed working in a group after  nearly 10 years of working solo. The new year is just by the door and as the scans of  the films arrive,I know I have to start gearing in to editting mode.

  Step by step, we are getting closer to the studio shoot day of the new film and I am so excited to work each member of the team. The shoot days with Matt Davis , surveying the bark of an old Walnut tree in Bristol with his macro lenses was amazing. A whole universe lives in the cracks of the bark of an old tree. Ripple Effect has been screened in few places. The great Ultra Cinema Festival which I really hope I can attend one year.It was amazing to watch the film along   with many great films in Laussan’s LUFF festival , meeting and making new friends. Next stop will be Kassel Documentary festival.   In the mean time, there are even more world events to digests. The American election, seems like world’s election and we are all waiting what effect the choice of a nation  will have on us all in different countires.It seems the world order needs revising.

  After many years of working on my own, I am so excited to work with a great team. I am preparing for days of shoot , storyboarding and thinking about shots. It is scary to think the boards I have been drawing, to refer to Iran-Iraq war during my childhood, might also translate to another upcoming war. I can’t stop thinking  that the feeling that war is always so close, walking on a tight trop all the time, has had long time effect on many people   from the corner of world I am from.

Summer is coming to end. Days  are getting shorter and light is starting to feel like autumn.I am going to work on a film that has been slowly in progress for a few years and now it will proceed in a way, that I haven't experienced for many years.Working with a team is so exciting and I am looking forward to it. Ripple Effect is having few screenings as part of CrossRoads film festival  and later on in Ultra Cinema . I love both these fesitvals and I am so happy the film that is so special to my heart is seen by their audiences.  

  Life carries on between elections in the west and east  side of my life. I was intending to keep myself sane and not to allow all the deep discussions about participations in elections while politics is becoming more devoid of purpose and meaning rain me under. My intentions finally crumbled and now I am in the state of confusion. I will eventually vote for anyone who is potentially less harmful and shows some glim of hope and change. I have few interviews for different projects coming along and there was a screening of Body to Meat to Earth , programmed by Lily Ashrowan at Bermondsey Project Space in London.

  Jonah and I went to visit my Dad in Iran. It was nice and emotionally intense as usual. One the way back, we were on the last flight that flew over Iran’s air space for a week or more. There was tension between Iran and Israel . Eventually Iran shot some rockets to Israel few days after we got back to UK and then Israel did something in return. Their dangerous games went along, as we did our quick family visit and that is how life goes as those leading nations, show off their powers. It was a pleasure to go to Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival and show Ripple Effect. I met so many amazing films and filmmakers and had great deep conversations. Now that I think back after a few days, Background by Khaled Abdulwahed touched mث deeply and I keep returning to it. It was also a joy to share VHS Diaries at Star and Shadow Cinema . A cinema that I love from afar and one day I hope to go and watch films and socialise with their community in Newcastle upon Tyne. The next stop f...

  The Commonplace Unravelled: The Films of Tara Najd Ahmadi A wooden drawing figure is gently positioned in pots, pans and jars to go through the process of making a simple Iranian dish of egg, rice and pickles. We view his level of resistance scientifically illustrated in diagrams appearing after each process. We are witnessing a simple domestic act while a wooden human figure goes through various forms of pressure and oppression. The traces of paint over the analogue frames remind us of the hand crafted nature of the film itself. This is a domestic film with a twist. Tara Najd Ahmadi sets the tone for her future work with this earlier 4 minute short film, Measuring the Levels of Resistance. She is an artist filmmaker whose work creates a sense of intimate closeness. At the same time she raises alertness towards what lies beneath the layers of daily life. There is a subtle humour, a deliberate lightness of touch in how film after film she delves deeper into conditions in which ...

 This month I was part of an online screening organised by Ashkal Al wan , an cotemprorary art centre based in Beirut, Lebanon.They programme was delayed for two months due to war in Palestine which some days looked like it can spread to Lebonan.Not only that region but also whole world is affected by what is happening in Gaza, no matter how much effort is put to pretend all is normal. These days,the voice of John Le Carre in the film Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris) has been echoing in my head. He talks about his experience of being in Berlin, right after world war two and just about the time the wall between east and west was being built. He said he was amazed by how the old Nazis were going about their lives in west germany and no one really minded.A new enemy was created .He says: "The power of enforced forgetting was extraordinary." Most of the times,specially since last october,I do feel we are all subjected to some form enforced forgetting. I have expeirenced it from my I...

The highlight of January, beside the fact I managed to enter the grand age of 48, is the screening of 10 short films I have made in recent years in Tehran. The screening was organised by Hadi Alipanah in a lovely cosy venue named the Green Room. It was a small screening but it meant so much to me.This was the first time that these films were seen in their home town, by the eyes that can see so many details and references and ears that can understand the poem’s of Ali Sarandibi and all the layers of field recorded sounds. It felt like a completion, a cycle fully shaped. The conversation after the films was similiarly interesting and in depth.The feedbacks reassured me that maybe this slow and steady path I have taken, seem to be going somewhere.

  The year is coming to an end. Too much tragedies happening. The christmas  buzz feels uncomforting. Charcoal Alley was awarded in Brazil 's Curta 8 festival and Ripple Effect was screened in Swedenborg house and I was happy it got a mention by the judges. I met my dad and few friends during the one week visit to Tehran. Love, emotions and pollution is a portion that takes some time to get over and get back to normal. Next projects progress very slowly.

There must be a reason in the Iranian rituals of mourning .The days that are traditionally set to remember a person who has passed away. It is now 40 days since the murder of Dariush Mehrjui and his wife and collaborator Vahideh Mohammadifar. The 40’th is one of those mile stone mourning days. I am finally able to express some of the deep grieve from the loss of my most loved Iranian filmmaker. Many Iranians were in state of shock and grieve after the news came out. From the older generation who lived before revolution and knew his master piece The Cow , to my generation who were born in the turbulent years of after revolution. His films had managed to connect with all walks of life in society within his 40 years of filmmaking. The first Iranian film I saw in cinema was his comedy film The Lodgers (1987). It was a major move on behalf of my dad to want to go to cinema in those years of war and hard life. But I think he could trust Mehrjui. So we went to cinema and watched the amazing c...

The summer passed with exploration of fossils in Dorset and sense of awe of the variety of alien looking seaweeds in north Wales’s beaches. Just as last year, I was blessed with 3 days at the Brazier International Filmfestival at the magical setting of Brazier’s park. I showed a film that I still have strong emotional attachments and was really glad to be able to talk and open up so comfortably about this film with very warm friendly audience. Next month will see the release of Celluloid Underground , a film by Ehsan Khoshbakht that I helped as the editor. It was a project that took at least 10 years on and off and a great joy to work on. I am so happy to be part of a selection of films by Amirali Ghasemi from previous Limited Access series for Les Instants Video in Marseille . The trigger of the cone was my first super 8 film after a gap from 16mm experiments in first year of film school in Art University in Tehran and has a special place for me. Charcoal Alley has its life ...