AN OWL, A GARDEN AND THE WRITER

World premiere: Visions du Réel 2023 / Burning Lights Competiton

In 2016, Sara began documenting her visits to her family’s garden outside of Tehran. Here, she spends her days with her father Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, one of the most prolific contemporary Iranian novelists. A man who has lived through poverty, imprisonment, revolution, war, political repression, and censorship. Removed from Mahmoud’s fame, they revisit recent and distant memories, as Sara counters her parent’s version of events by narrating her own perspective as a child. Having been inspired throughout her life by Mahmoud’s ability to create a completely fictional universe within their daily lives, Sara incorporates her daughter’s imaginary adventures along with narration of passages of Mahmoud’s writings, blurring the line between fiction and reality. Through telling Dowlatabadi’s personal story, AN OWL, A GARDEN AND THE WRITER highlights the challenges that artists in authoritarian societies grapple with and the ephemeral and lasting impacts of their life choices.

A FILM BY Sara Dolatabadi | Iran/ France/ Switzerland, 2023, 83'