Aperitif-Cinema: Tales of Tehran

Aperitif-Cinema: Chroniques de Téhéran de Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami Projection + 10 years in original version with subtitles / Seed of the Sacred Fig Regarding what is happening today in Iran, the CCM wished to open a focus, an eye on the world, through the screening of Chroniques de Téhéran. Since the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, born after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, Iranian society remains crossed by a deep aspiration for freedom, particularly on the part of women and youth. International reports continue to document significant repression, particularly against women, activists, and all those who defy the norms imposed by the regime. Directed by Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami, Chroniques de Téhéran shows nine fragments of daily life: a birth to declare, a school start, a job interview, a traffic ticket, a driver's license, a filming permit… So many ordinary situations that gradually become scenes of oppression. Faced with an invisible but all-powerful administration, the characters try to preserve their dignity, their freedom, and their right to exist. The film strikes by the simplicity of its device: nine fixed shots, nine face-to-face encounters, nine moments where daily life turns into an ordeal. Behind the absurd humor and the sometimes almost burlesque dialogues, the violence of a system that controls bodies, names, clothes, images, beliefs, and desires is revealed. The educational file emphasizes, moreover, how much each sketch confronts ordinary citizens with a coercive authority that hinders their most intimate choices. Official selection of the Festival de Cannes 2023 – Un Certain Regard Bahram Ark / Arghavan Shabani / Servin Zabetian / Sadaf Asgari / Faezeh Rad / Hossein Soleymani / Majid Salehi / Farzin Mohades / Gouhar Kheir Andish / Ardeshir Kazemi Scénario / Réalisation Ali Asgari / Alireza Khatami