Azar Saiyar’s Monument of Distance (2018) will be screened at Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival, held in Brazil from August 30 to September 8, at An Ordinary Day Film Festival, held in Stockholm, Sweden, from August 13–18, and at Festival Silhouette, held in Paris, France from August 30 to September 7.
In Belo Horizonte, Monument of Distance was selected for the international competition. In Stockholm, the screenings of the film take place on Saturday, August 17, and on Sunday, August 18. Both screenings start at 16:00 in film theatre Studio 44. At Festival Silhouette, Saiyar’s film will be screened on Sunday, September 1, in the programme “Hybride – Le DOC!” The screening starts at 16:00 in Parc de la Butte du Chapeau Rouge.
In Monument of Distance, Googoosh, a popular and loved iranian-azerbaijani singer, performs a version of the song Ayrılıq – Separation. The performance is from 1970s television show and it has been copied several times from one videotape to another. Ayrılıq could be a love song but it is told that composer Ali Salimi (who had migrated from Soviet Azerbaijan to Iran and left behind his home and loved ones) wanted to make music about his sense of longing.
Azar Saiyar is a Helsinki-based filmmaker and visual artist. She often uses archive materials and plays with images and words of collective memory to look towards ways of looking, remembering and storytelling. Her films have been screened at international film and media art festivals, galleries, exhibitions, museums and broadcast on television.
An Ordinary Day Film Festival, August 13–18 2019, Stockholm, Sweden
Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival, August 30 – September 8, Brazil
Festival Silhouette, August 30 – September 7, Paris, France