Viff: Azar

Important:***Wed. Oct 11, 9:00 pm, Location is :SFU-GCA***

Azar
Panorama | Contemporary World Cinema

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First seen racing on a dusty motocross track, Azar (Niki Karimi), the title character of Mohammad Hamzei&rsquo,s debut feature, isn&rsquo,t exactly the conventional ideal wife, at least not in Iran. She&rsquo,s confident, capable, and deeply committed to the fledgling pizza restaurant she runs with her husband, Amir (Hamidreza Azarang), but she&rsquo,s a little too progressive for some tastes. So when a terrible tragedy threatens the future of both Amir and the business, she ends up paying the price. It&rsquo,s a forceful, deeply felt snapshot of gender inequality in contemporary Iran.

Like the trademark moral quagmires of Asghar Farhadi, the film pivots on an irreparable, ostensibly clear-cut accident that only grows murkier as Hamzei weaves through the cramped rooms and urban spaces of Persian society. Navigating the traditions, personal impulses and plain hypocrisies of those involved&mdash,chiefly, those of Amir&rsquo,s uncle (Farid Sajjadi Hosseini), who was to provide a much-needed business loan&mdash,Hamzei creates a web of competing agendas from which there is no clean escape. (&quot,Why don&rsquo,t you say anything?&quot, Azar&rsquo,s sympathetic mother-in-law asks her. But her tearful silence speaks volumes.) It&rsquo,s a portrait of a woman beset at every turn, until all that remains is an image of shuttering blinds and fading light, a domestic drama with a resigned air and a pointed, mournful sting.
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International premiere
Director Mohammad Hamzei
Country of Origin: Iran
Year: 2017
Running Time: 85 mins
Format: DCP
Cast: Niki Karimi, Hamidreza Azarang, Farid Sjadi Hoseini, Shirin Aghakashi
Producer: Niki Karimi
Screenwriter: Ehsan Biglari
Cinematographer: Peyman Shadmanfar
Editor: Mostafa Kharghe Poosh
Production Design: Mehdi Mousavi
Print Source: Farabi Cinema Foundation&nbsp,

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