AT THE DISPOSAL OF HUMANITY presents films that share perspectives from communities on the periphery of contemporary Iranian society. With a focus on some of the many ethnic minorities living in Iran, the films in this program explore aspects of their deep-seated roots to land, relationships to their ecological environments, and their various struggles for justice against systemic oppression. The in-person screening features three films that reflect the main themes of the program.

Join us for a post screening Q&A with Shadi Harouni, artist/ filmmaker, and Lila Nazemian, ArteEast’s Special Projects Curator.

For more info about the program click here

AT THE DISPOSAL OF HUMANITY is co-presented by ArteEast and UnionDocs and is curated by Lila Nazemian. This screening is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents nearly 20 years of film and video programming by ArteEast. This program will be screened online on artearchive.org from November 11-18, 2022. A selection of films from the program will be screened in-person at UnionDocs on November 10th at 7:30PM ET, followed by a discussion between Shadi Harouni and Lila Nazemian. For more information, visit artearchive.org

Doors open at 7:00PM while the program starts at 7:30PM!

Set against a stone quarry on the far outskirts of the city of Bijar, Kurdistan province, Shadi Harouni’s I Dream the Mountain is Still Whole, is an intimate conversation with a former Kurdish political activist that transcends temporal specificity. Revealing the evolution of his own political and societal beliefs in parallel to the many arduous jobs he has labored, the former revolutionary furthermore challenges listeners to question humanity’s larger existential struggles in relation to nature and the universe. Harouni’s film anchors the concerns reflected in the works of the other filmmakers in this program.

Daniel Asadi Faezi’s Where We Used to Swim is a haunting recollection of Lake Urmia, once the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East/Caucuses. Due to droughts, the rerouting of rivers, the construction of dams and the pumping of nearby groundwater, the lake shrunk to less than 10% of its original size. Located in Iran’s Azerbaijan province, Urmia is a symbol of insurmountable ecological and cultural loss.

Over one million Afghans live as refugees in neighboring Iran. For Ismael, Golagha, Kashmir and Nader, the flawed Iranian asylum laws leave them in legal limbo and under constant threat of deportation. To make a living, they work as ball boys in Tehran’s upper-class tennis clubs. Given the contemporary flood of images of refugees arriving on the shores of Europe, Overruled deals with an important and often overlooked part of the bigger picture, examining refugee struggles in Asia.

Lila Nazemian (she/her) is an independent curator and the Special Projects Curator at ArteEast in New York. Her research and curatorial practice are focused on reimagining approaches to early modern history from the SWANASA region in an effort to counter-narrative revisionism and collective amnesia.

Shadi Harouni is an artist based in New York. Harouni’s practice is situated at the intersections of image, sculpture, text, and folklore. Her research is centered on disavowed histories of dissent, chiefly in her ancestral Kurdistan. Harouni is a Professor and Head of Studio Arts at New York University.

Daniel Asadi Faezi is a filmmaker whose work focuses on non-fiction storytelling. He studied directing at University of Television and Film Munich and National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan. Faezi’s recent Aralkum was awarded the Jury Prize for Best International Shortfilm at 53. Visions du Réel.

Mohammadreza Jurabchian was born in Tehran, Iran and is known for The Last Image of a Memory (2012), Overruled (2016) and Final Encore (2013).

Born in Tehran, Iran, Farnaz Jurabchian works as an independent film director. She received her BA in French Literature from Tehran University, and her BFA in Cinema from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She made several short films and documentaries which have been selected for a number of international film festivals worldwide.