Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is one of the most prolific Iranian novelists. In this poetic portrait, gracefully crafted by his filmmaker daughter Sara Dolatabadi, he reflects on his life throughout the turbulent 20th century. Meanwhile, his daughter manages to create her own images of a father who is full of luminous ideas, yet also somewhat peculiar and lonely.

Director(s): Sara Dolatabadi | 2023 | 80 Min.
Language: Persian with English subtitles
Country: France/Iran/Switzerland

Screenings and tickets

Sunday 8 June 2025, 15:00

Friday 6 June 2025, 17:00

Director(s)

Sara Dolatabadi is an Iranian artist and filmmaker. Her early life was disrupted by the Islamic revolution, the war and the daily life under the Islamic regime. These memories have influenced her practice, a meeting point between the microcosm of the personal and the macrocosm of the political. She graduated from Azad Art University (Tehran) and spent the next decade working in Tokyo, Paris and New York. In New York, she obtained a MFA at Hunter College for which she directed a short documentary, Summer Light. She then directed afeature documentary, An Owl, A Garden and the Writer, which premiered at the Vision du Réel festival 2023. The film has been screened at various venues, like the Busan Film Festival and the Centre Pompidou. The film won the Rights and Freedom Award at Doc Lisboa 2023 and the Best Portrait Award at the FIFA art Festival (Montreal) 2024. After three years in Gabon where she started a NGO Musanga to promote education in modest quarters, she now lives and works in Ethiopia.