CARELESS CRIME
Special Features: Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Shahram Mokri, moderated by film critic Godfrey Cheshire
[JENAYAT-E BI DEGHAT]
One of the most dazzling and enigmatic films in recent memory, Iranian director Shahram Mokri's mind-bending mystery leapfrogs between past and present, fact and fiction to create an unforgettable picture of time not as a straight line, but as an elastic, constantly spinning Moebius strip. Inspired by a real-life tragedy, the infamous Cinema Rex fire in 1978 that triggered the Iranian Revolution, CARELESS CRIME follows three "timelines" — of arsonists planning to burn down a movie theater; of workers and students at the cinema; and of characters within the film screening at the cinema — which may or may not all be happening at the same time. Comparisons abound, from the work of Chris Marker (LA JETÉE) to Hitchcock's VERTIGO and Wojciech Has' THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT, but Mokri's film is a magnificent, multi-faceted puzzle box all its own. Winner of the Bisato d'Oro Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. (Note courtesy of Deaf Crocodile Films.) DIR/SCR Shahram Mokri; SCR Nasim Ahmadpour; PROD Negar Eskandarfar. Iran, 2020, color, 134 min. In Persian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 134 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, April 16, 2022
Genre: Drama
