Department Events
Film Screenings and Artist’s Talk: Caveh ZahediMonday, September 23, 7 p.m.
Room 1, Olin Science Center
Caveh Zahedi—who has been referred to as the Iranian Woody Allen, began making films while studying philosophy at Yale University. Zahedi’s films are personal and provocative, and often flirt with censorship as well as the audience’s disapproval. One of his first films, I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore, was an attempt to prove the existence of God by means of a road trip to Las Vegas with his Iranian-born father and teenage half-brother. His premise was that if God exists, God will provide whatever events are needed to make the film compelling. But when the film doesn’t seem to be going his way, Zahedi resorts to plan B, which involves persuading his father and half-brother to take Ecstasy with him as part of the film. Although virulently panned by most American critics and a box office disaster, the film won the Critics’ Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival and went on to develop a cult following. Zahedi’s latest film, The Sheik & I, began with an invitation by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of “art as a subversive act.” Told that he can do whatever he wants except make fun of the Sheik, who rules the country and finances the Biennial, Zahedi decides to do just that, turning his camera on the Biennial itself. But his court jester antics fail to amuse. Zahedi's film is banned for blasphemy and he is threatened with arrest and a fatwa. After a legal battle, the film ultimately premiered at the 2012 South by Southwest film festival but was banned from many other venues. Film critic Eric Kohn suggests that the critical question here—the one we should all ask—is whether the film is immoral or essential?
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