Fatland / Filmmaking / 2017

 

FLATLAND (2017) is a multi-award-winning experimental dance film co-directed by Alireza Keymanesh and Amir Pousti, produced by 33projects, with score composed by Peter Pirhosseinloo and featuring a hundred female dancers.

Inspired by the eponymous 1884 novel by Edwin A. Abbott, the film delves into various dimensions of the universe and humanity’s incapability to perceive beyond the limits of its perception, exploring such fundamental concepts as birth and collective living.

Poetically bringing geometric shapes to life through dance, FLATLAND is a 14-minute, one-shot, drone-captured, bird’s-eye view of a rooftop in Tehran. The dancers fade away, transforming into a multitude of atomized bodies melting into the urban environment, blurring the boundaries between the human body and its surroundings. This minimalistic dance film is designed to be projected on large screens, on walls around the city as well as in cinema theaters and galleries, offering an immersive and captivating experience for the audience.   

AWARDS:

2022 - The Artist Prize - POOL Movement Art Film Festival - Berlin, Germany
2018 - The Video Art & Advertising Award - Master of Art Film Festival - Sofia, Bulgaria 
2018 - The Best Experimental Film Award - Sydney World Film Festival - Sydney, Australia 
2018 - The Best Experimental Film Award - Brussels Independent Film Festival - Brussels, Belgium 
2017 - The Best Video Art Award - European Film Festival Mainstream & Underground - Moscow, Russia 
2017 - The Best Experimental Film Award - Calcutta International Cult Film Festival- Calcutta, India
2017 - The Best Experimental Film Award - Feel The Reel International Film Festival, Glasgow, United Kingdom

SCREENINGS:

2023 - Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, 4 Days Continuous Loop Projection On the facade of the National Theatre - Brussels, Belgium
2023 - York University, Movie Day of Some Iranian Short Films, Nat Taylor Cinema, Toronto, Canada 
2023 - b12 Festival in a Co-Curated Program with POOL Movement Art Film Festival, EDEN Studios - Berlin, Germany
2023 - “Dance Through the Camera Lens”, Cinemateket at Danish Film Institute - Copenhagen, Denmark
2023 - Educational Content, Association Les Vidéophages - Toulouse, France
2022 - POOL Movement Art Film Festival 2022 - Berlin, Germany
2022 - “Le Jour de la Danse”, Association Les Vidéophages - Toulouse, France
2022 - “La Nuit du Court Métrage”, Association CinéToile - Montignac-Lascaux, France
2022 - “Let’s Dance: Thematic Retrospective 2022”, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival - Clermont-Ferrand, France
2021 - Dance Studies Association Conference 2021, “Galvanizing Dance Studies: Building Anti-Racist Praxis, Transformative Connections, and Movement(s) of Radical Care, Rutgers University - New Brunswick, New Jersey, The US         
2021 - Zinetika Film Festival - Pamplona, San Sebastian, and Bilbao, Spain
2021 - Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema - Boulder, Colorado, The US
2020 - Festival des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole - Bordeaux, France
2020 - CInescope, The International Dance Film Festival of Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain
2020 - Festival International du Film sur l'Art: Lumière sur les films d’art iraniens - Montréal, Canada
2019 - Dancing on the Edge Festival - Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2018 - Moovy Tanzfilm Festival - Cologne, Germany
2018 - Sydney World Film Festival - Sydney, Australia
2018 - Concordia University: A Retrospective of Iranian Short Films Event - Montréal, Canada
2018 - Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival - Hong Kong
2018 - Master of Art Film Festival - Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 - Flanders Art Institute, Nona Center - Brussels, Belgium
2018 - Delete TV Film Festival - London, United Kingdom
2018 - Les subsistances, “Le MOI de la danse” - Lyon, France
2018 - Brussels Independent Film Festival - Brussels, Belgium
2018 - SorsiCorti International Short Film Festival - Palermo, Italy
2017 - Calcutta International Cult Film Festival - Calcutta, India
2017 - Feel The Reel International Film Festival - Glasgow, United Kingdom
2017 - Tehran International Short Film Festival - Tehran, Iran
2017 - Festival de Videodanza de Palma - Palma, Spain
2017 - A Corner in the World Event - Istanbul, Turkey
2017 - SIFF - Switzerland International Film Festival - 1170 Aubonne, Switzerland
2017 - European Film Festival Mainstream Underground - Moscow, Russia
2017 - Capri by Night Multicultural Event - Cologne, Germany
2017 - Shirin Gallery, as a part of a group exhibition based on the eponymous book written by Edwin Abott Curated By Golbarg Barzin, Tehran, Iran

CREDITS:

Directors: Alireza Keymanesh and Amir Pousti
Producer: 33Projects
Choreographer: Alireza Keymanesh
Camera: Amir Pousti
Music: Peter Pirhosseinloo
Assistant: Kourosh Mohammadi
Dance Leaders: Kourosh Mohammadi, Saeed Taherkhani, Pedram Samadi, Sima Sadeghi, Hedieh Bakhtiari, Elham Iravani, Sanaz Eslami, Nasim Arian, Shuka Karimi

Dancers:
Aila Ahmadi, Anahita Ashtar Nakhaei, Banafshe Ansari, Zahra Asadi, Zahra Etminan, Sara Akbarnejad, Fatemeh Alba, Melina Ale Ali, Mina Ashour, Nazila Ahmadi, Aida Boukani, Parnaz Bonyab, Samaneh Banaei, Samaneh Bigdeli, Samira Bahrami, Fatemeh Bakhtiari, Fatemeh Pourhasan, Mahtab Bakhshande, Heliya Pourkarimi, Arkia Jaberi, Jeyran Jamali Raoufi, Zahra Janmohammadi, Maryam Javanmard, Aida Charkhgari, Marjan Chaharsooghi, Zahra Khozoue, Marjan Khaksari, Negar Khalilzadeh, Negin Khalilzadeh, Elahe Dehghani, Diba Delvari, Sahar Dadban, Mahshid Dabaghkaran, Mona Davarpour, Nafiseh Dehghani, Azin Rafati, Elnaz Rezaei, Amira Rezaei, Shirin Rafiei, Niloufar Rajabalibanan, Zahra Salimian, Farzaneh Soheyli, Mahdieh Saghian, Azadeh Shirmohamad pour, Shima Shahrokhi, Nasrin Shojaei, Roja Sadeghi, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Mona Salavati, Shirin Tayebi, Sara Ebadi, Sahel Alikhani, Hanieh Enayati, Bita Farde Amini, Rabee Fesharaki, Tina Ghasemi, Matin Keymanesh, Mona Karimi, Mahshid Kazemi, Yasaman Kashi, Elham Mahmoodi, Parastoo Moghani Mamaghani, Raheleh Moradi, Samaneh Moradi, Fatemeh Mehrabi, Mahoor Mirzanejad, Nouran Mehmandoozt, Nushin Minaeifard, Yasaman Mohajerani, Samira Najari, Nirvana Naqavi, Aida Valeh, Atefeh Vakilian

Photo credit: Peyman Kermani, Amir Pousti