Screened as part of NZIFF 2014

Fish & Cat 2013

Mahi Va Gorbeh

Directed by Shahram Mokri

Boldly inventive and intricately choreographed, this Iranian one-shot wonder weaves an enigmatic time-warp narrative around a group of characters who have congregated at a lakeside camp.

Iran In Farsi with English subtitles
134 minutes DCP

Director, Screenplay

Producer

Sepehr Seyfi

Photography

Mahmoud Kalari

Production Designer

Amir Esbati

Music

Christophe Rezai

With

Babak Karimi (Babak)
,
Saeed Ebrahimifar (Saeed)
,
Abed Abest (Parviz)
,
Ainaz Azarhoush (Maryam)
,
Mona Ahmadi (Nadia)
,
Neda Jebraieli (Mina)
,
Parinaz Tayeb (Maryam)
,
Samaneh Vafaiee (Ladan)

Festivals

Venice
,
Busan 2013
,
Rotterdam
,
New Directors/New Films 2014

Awards

Horizons Award (Special Prize)
,
Venice International Film Festival 2013

Elsewhere

"A bold experiment in perpetual motion with an enigmatic time-warp narrative, Fish & Cat plays out as one continuous shot, with the camera moving among a host of characters at a remote forest and a nearby lake. Gradually subverting a gruesome premise drawn from a real-life case of a backwoods restaurant that served human flesh, the film builds an atmosphere of tension as a menacing pair descend on a campsite where a group of college kids have gathered for a kite-flying festival. But as the camera doubles back and criss-crosses between characters in real time, subtle space-time paradoxes suggest that something bigger is going on. Brilliantly sustained, Fish & Cat is further evidence of a new generation of filmmakers emerging in Iran.” — MOMA, New Directors/New Films.

“Filmed in one long, bravura shot by photographer Mahmud Kalari (A Separation), director/writer Shahram Mokri’s highly original second feature combines formal experimentation with a sly sense of humor and a surprising feeling for American genre conventions." — Alissa Simon, Variety