REDCAT: Mania Akbari: 10 + 4 (Dah be alaveh Chahar)
8:00 PM, May 5, 2008
West Coast premiere
Iran, 2007, 77 min., Beta SP
After casting painter and video artist Mania Akbari as the central figure of his groundbreaking Ten (2002), and then witnessing her outstanding debut as a feature film director in 20 Fingers (2004), Abbas Kiarostami urged Akbari to direct a sequel to Ten. In Dah be alaveh Chahar (10 + 4), though, circumstances are different: Mania is fighting cancer. She has undergone surgery; she has lost her hair following chemotherapy and no longer wears the compulsory headscarf; and sometimes she is too weak to drive. So the camera follows her to record conversations with friends and family in different spaces, from a gondola to a hospital bed. Treading an elegant line between documentary and fiction, Akbari takes a daring look at complex social situations that arise in the face of mortality--and emerges with a new zest for life.
"Filled with touches of grace and humanity, but never ever sentimental." Vancouver International Film Festival