Rouzbeh Rashidi

Rouzbeh Rashidi (Persian: روزبه رشیدی; born 23 December 1980, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-Irish avant-garde filmmaker and founder of Experimental Film Society.[1] Since 2000, Rashidi produced experimental feature films and numerous volumes of instalments for the Homo Sapiens Project.[2] His films have been associated with the Remodernist Film Movement.[3]

Rouzbeh Rashidi
Rouzbeh Rashidi
Born(1980-12-23)December 23, 1980
Tehran, Iran
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active2000–present

Early life

Born in Tehran, from an early age, Rashidi collected records most of which he has sold to buy his first camera, VHSc to start making films in the year 2000.[4] His observation has shown that there were three main filmmaking categories: mainstream, guerilla and video art. Mainstream implied an accent on storytelling, underground held similar ideas to the first category but lacked financial support, and lastly, originating from a visual arts background, video art most often persuaded a political point. Not being fulfilled by the options, the filmmaker came up with an alternative solution by creating his own system of creating and screening films. Rashidi's main influences became moving image pioneers like Maya Deren, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jonas Mekas.[5]

Career

2000s

In 2004, Rashidi moved to Dublin, where he continued establishing the Experimental Film Society and his filmmaking practice.[6] The filmmaker received 3 Smedias Awards for the Homo Sapiens Project (200) work-in-progress version in 2009, and shortly after released his debut feature film, "Only Human."[7][8]

2010s

In 2010, an experimental drama feature film was released under the name "Bipedality", followed by an experimental mystery feature film "Closure of Catharsis" in 2011.[9]

In 2011, the first official Experimental Film Society screening was led in Dublin, expanding the Irish programming of experimental cinema.[10]

The feature films "Hades of Limbo" (screened at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 2022), "Indwell Extinction of Hawks in Remoteness" and "HE" were the products of 2012, landing Rashidi the reputation of a 'naturally predisposed to experimentation, always looking for a new film language, rejecting its canons.' (CinePensieri Magazine).[11][12][13] The title "There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind" released in 2013 was chosen to be performed in tandem with the sound artists at Sharjah Art Foundation in 2020.[14]

In 2015, the new era of Rashidi's filmography has begun defining itself as a science-fiction trilogy. The premiere of "Ten Years in The Sun", a homage to Luis Buñuel and Joao Cesar Monteiro, took place at Dublin International Film Festival in 2015.[15][16] A year later, an avant-garde fantasy "Trailers" debuted at Cork International Film Festival.[17] The concluding piece "Luminous Void: Docudrama" (2019) was premiered at Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival.[18]

In 2017, Rashidi received the Reel Art Award from the Arts Council of Ireland for his experimental documentary landscape feature film "Phantom Islands" (2018) to be later distributed by the Irish Film Institute.[19][20] The film has received the best feature-length prize at the Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival.[21]

2020s

In February 2020, Rashidi was accepted to be a part of Berlinale Talents.[1] The same year, the eight-hour feature film "Homo Sapiens Project 200" (2000-2020) was released as a constitution of twenty years of film experiments.[22]

In 2021, the filmmaker's most extended feature, "Homo Sapiens Project 201", was released, reaching a total of nineteen hours.[23]

In the year 2022, Rashidi taught Experimental Filmmaking and Practise at Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany.[24]

Experimental Film Society

In 2000, Rashidi founded the Experimental Film Society in Tehran, Iran which four years later expanded to Dublin.[25] First, EFS was a member-based not-for-profit film collective specialising in avant-garde, experimental and low-budget filmmaking.[26] While employing new international members, the group emphasised film archiving, restoring and programming by underground filmmakers.[27] By 2011, the collective put the initiative into organising screenings, performances and talks worldwide. In 2017, EFS officially became a production and distribution company facilitating professionally funded projects. The year 2020 marked the two decades of the existence Experimental Film Society and the culmination of the company's multidisciplinary work.[28] The group is often referred to as "the most active, prolific and intrepid group of experimental filmmakers working in Ireland today" (aemi).[29]

Homo Sapiens Project

in 2011, Rashidi initiated the Homo Sapiens Project (HSP), an ongoing series of personal experimental video instalments. In its entirety, the project, as he says, is "not a filmed life, but filmmaking as a parallel to life and a parallel life".[30]

In 2020, the eight-hour experimental feature Homo Sapiens Project (200) was completed as part of the 20th anniversary of the Experimental Film Society.[31]

Filmography

Feature films

  • 2009 Only Human
  • 2010 Bipedality
  • 2011 Closure of Catharsis
  • 2012 Hades of Limbo
  • 2012 Indwell Extinction of Hawks in Remoteness
  • 2012 HE
  • 2013 HSP: There Is No Escape From The Terrors Of The Mind
  • 2015 Ten Years In The Sun
  • 2016 TRAILERS
  • 2018 Phantom Islands
  • 2019 Luminous Void: Docudrama

Further reading

See also

References
  1. Berlinale, Talents (2020). "Berlinale Talents - Rouzbeh Rashidi". Berlinale Talents. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  2. Pool, Thomas (12 July 2021). "Project Profile | Luminous Void | The Visual Artists' News Sheet Online". Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  3. Nash, Cara (25 February 2010). "Cinema with soul: Members of the Remodernist Film Movement unite to create a feature film". Film Ink. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  4. Clara Pais, Daniel Fawcett (December 2016). "An Interview with Rouzbeh Rashidi" (PDF). Film Panic (3): 11.
  5. Le Cain, Maximilian (2011). "Experimental Film Society: Rouzbeh Rashidi in Conversation". Experimental Conversations. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  6. Cillo, Enzo (10 August 2015). "Interview with Experimental Film Society (Part One)". Artdigiland. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  7. The Irish Film & Television Network (9 April 2009). "Students Scoop Prizes At Smedias". The Irish Film & Television Network. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  8. Mousoulis, Bill (20 February 2017). "Only Human, Only Cinema …". EFS Publications.
  9. MUBI (2010). "Bipedality". MUBI.
  10. Clara Pais, Daniel Fawcett (December 2016). "An Interview With Rouzbeh Rashidi" (PDF). Film Panic (3): 10 – via Rouzbeh Rashidi.
  11. Govett Brewster Art Gallery (29 May 2022). "Hades of Limbo | Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre". Govett Brewster. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  13. Cine Pensieri (1 March 2017). "He". Cine Pensieri (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  14. Sharjah Art Foundation (15 December 2020). "Re|sound Returns to Sharjah Art Foundation's Mirage City Cinema for Fifth Edition". Sharjah Art Foundation. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  15. Letterboxd (2015). "Ten Years In The Sun (2015)". Letterboxd.
  16. Film Ireland (24 March 2015). "'Ten Years in the Sun'". Film Ireland Magazine. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  17. Gocić, Nikola (1 January 2018). "REVIEW: TRAILERS (2016)". Moving Image Artists. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  18. Istanbul Experimental (15 October 2019). "Luminous Void: Docudrama". Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  19. Irish Film Institute Home (2019). "The Reel Art Collection". IFI@Home. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  20. Irish Film Institute International, Phantom Islands, retrieved 24 June 2022
  21. Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival (2018). "Documentation 2018". Istanbul International. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  22. Experimental Film Society, Video On Demand (2020). "Homo Sapiens Project (200) (2000-2020)". Experimental Film Society. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  23. Experimental Film Society, Video On Demand (2021). "Homo Sapiens Project (201) (2002-2021)". Experimental Film Society. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  24. Universität der Künste Berlin (2022). "Experimental Filmmaking and Practice". Udk-Berlin (in German). Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  25. Uktarsh (14 May 2020). "Filmmaker Rouzbeh Rashidi on developing a platform for alternative cinema". STIR World. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  26. Brodie, Patrick (2016). "Deterritorialising Irish Cinema". Nordic Irish Studies. 15 (2): 79–96. ISSN 1602-124X. JSTOR 44363845.
  27. Artists' and Experimental Moving Image (2 May 2016). "The Films of Experimental Film Society". aemi.
  28. Flash Art International (21 December 2020). "Project Arts Centre presents Luminous Void: Twenty Years of Experimental Film Society". Flash Art. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  29. Artists' and Experimental Moving Image. "Luminous Void: Twenty Years of Experimental Film Society". Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  30. Bezirksamt Lichtenberg von Berlin (9 September 2021). "Rouzbeh Rashidi: Lecture zum Homo Sapiens Project". berlin.de (in German). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  31. MUBI, Homo Sapiens Project (200), retrieved 23 June 2022
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