Narges Kalhor Sensitive Content (2023)

Videostill from Narges Kalhor, Sensitive Content, 2023, video, 08:50 min., color, sound. Courtesy of the artist

People in Iran document every second of their struggle against the Iranian regime. They take great risks, pulling out their phones and pressing the record button, so that the world may open its eyes and never forget or ignore their plight. The regime deliberately targets the eyes of these witnesses. Many people have lost one or both of their eyes, and some have even lost their lives, just like SHIRIN ALIZADEH (https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20221103-shirin-alizadeh-iranian-woman-killed-filming-crackdown). Yet, despite the dangers, the videos of these witnesses are still shared on the internet. The fact that these moments are now being removed as “sensitive content” from social media is the very hypocrisy we must answer for on the other side of the world. Behind every eye blurred into deep obscurity a person in the Middle East loses his life.

Narges Kalhor

Narges Kalhor was born in 1984 in Tehran and grew up there. After graduating from school in 2001, she began studying feature film at the Tehran Film School to study feature film directing. She has been directed by various well-known filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami. In 2007, she continued her studies in visual communication at Kamalolmolk University. At the same time, she worked as Film Editor at ARASB advertising film agency in Tehran and made 5 short films.

In 2009 Narges Kalhor attended the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival (NIHRFF) in Nuremberg with her short film „DIE EGGE“. She applied for political asylum and attracted international attention for being the daughter of the daughter of the highest-ranking cultural advisor to then Iranian President Ahmadinehjad. She has since been granted asylum in Germany and is studying at the University of Television and Film in Munich. In 2010, she received a scholarship from Vodafone Chance for her entire studies. Her second film at the Filmakademie as co-director „SHOOT ME“ was nominated for the German Short Film Award and was awarded as best Film of the Nonfiktionale 2014.

In 2014 she received the award for best video art for „KAFAN“ at the UNDERDOX Film Festival Munich and in 2016 presented the Video Installation „NOSFERATU IS NOT DEAD“ as a group work at the Lenbachhaus in Munich. Her third University film „GIS“ was nominated for the Starter Film Award of the City of Munich. In 2019 her graduation film „In the Name of Scheherazade“ celebrated its world premiere at Vision Du Réel and was awarded the Goethe Institute for the best documentary at the Dok-Leipzig Film Festival. For this film Narges Kalhor received in 2019 the Bavarian Culture Award and a year later the Starter Film Award of the City of Munich. The film screened at several international festivals and received a Swiss theatrical release in February 2020 distributed by Cinélibre (https://www.cinelibre.ch). In June 2021, the film was screened at the Berlinale Forum in Berlin.

Narges Kalhor now works in the field of film art for various exhibitions and museums.