Flatland (2017) /

FLATLAND (14 min) 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 dancers.

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Inspired by the eponymous 1884 novel by Edwin A. Abbott, the film delves into various dimensions of the universe and incapability of humans to perceive what is beyond their perception limits, exploring concepts as birth and collective living.

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Poetically bringing geometric shapes to life through dance. FLATLAND is a 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.

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AWARDS

• The Artist Prize - POOL Movement Art Film Festival - Berlin, Germany - 2022
• 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 - 2018
• 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 - 2017

SCREENINGS

Flatland has been presented in over forty festivals, museums, galleries, theatres, and educational institutions across the world, including:

• Four Days Continuous Loop Projection On the facade of Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles - Brussels, Belgium — 2023
• Cinemateket at Danish Film Institute, Dance Through the Camera Lens, Copenhagen, Denmark — 2023
• Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Let’s Dance: Thematic Retrospective, France — 2022
• Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema - Boulder, Colorado, The US — 2021
• Festival International du Film sur l'Art: Lumière sur les films d’art iraniens - Montréal, Canada — 2020
• Switzerland International Film Festival — 2017

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

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