IDFA x De Balie: Past Future Continuous

A woman who has fled Iran asks her aging parents, who stayed behind, to install cameras throughout their home so she can remain connected from afar. As she watches the footage, she reflects on family, political unrest in Tehran, and longing for home.

Maryam fled Iran decades ago and settled in the United States. Her parents remained in Tehran. Now that they are growing older and political unrest is intensifying, she is concerned. She persuades them to install security cameras in every room, so she can stay in direct contact with them from a distance. Maryam finds herself glued to this virtual connection, only now realizing how lonely they must have been all these years.

Footage from these cameras inside Maryam’s childhood home forms the basis of this moving, tender, and philosophical film by Firouzeh Khosrovani and Morteza Ahmadvand, respectively director and art director of Radiograph of a Family (2020). The security footage shows the parents shuffling slowly but routinely through their rooms.

Over this silent montage, at times intercut with home videos from her childhood, Maryam reflects on half a lifetime without her parents, on growing up in Tehran, and on why she can never return. Stylized images of birds seem to symbolize both a lack of freedom and courageous attempts to break free.

De Balie has selected six of the best films featured at IDFA. Documentaries on a wide range of subjects, taking you from the intimacy of the therapy room to the microscopic world of fungi. Despite their diversity, these films share a common thread: they are auteur-driven works, created with a distinct artistic vision. Films that use the camera as a tool of expression, rather than mere registration. Join us after each screening for a conversation hosted by De Balie, with filmmakers and notable guests.