THE UNTOUCHABLE by Iranian Canadian Avazeh Shahnavaz walks us into the life of a young woman, YASSI, physically-abused and emotionally-damaged, who seeks justice for a deep-cut open wound caused by a society, its ethos, and its inhabitants.
THE UNTOUCHABLE was premiered at the Short Forum of the 40th Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and went on to screen at the Panorama program section of the 20th Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF), accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the European Film Academy (EFA) as a qualifying festival for short film categories.
Avazeh Shahnavaz’s THE UNTOUCHABLE has been selected to go on screen in the official program section of the BIFA/BAFTA Qualifying Bolton International Film Festival, which celebrates its sixth edition from Wednesday 5th October – Sunday 9th October.
A young woman named Yassi stands in the middle of a highway desperately screaming. For over an hour she’s been looking for someone, jumping in front of cars and holding up traffic. Sergeant Jabbari arrives on the scene to arrest her, yet ironically, the Sharia law has placed him in a helpless position with many witnesses holding up Smartphones, recording a situation that only gets worse.
Avazeh Shahnavaz in her 2nd short film brings to life moments she remembers of a woman in turmoil while she was 16 and embroiders it with touching details. she shares, “When I was 16, on the way back from high school in my father’s car, I saw a lady, shouting at specific cars, going back to sidewalk.”
The social norms in Iranian society, position of women and how they’re treated by the society and its inhabitants is reflected throughout Shahnavaz’s short film. THE UNTOUCHABLE also tries to bring focus to hijab issues in Iranian society and how a police officer whose duty is to maintain security causes a situation expand into chaos and go out of control.
Nika Shahbazzadeh stars as YASSI, a young woman whose face reveals pain and damage. She is searching for a man with a white SUV, who made her suffer a deep-cut emotional pain. Through her lines with a female SUV driver we find that she’s been sexually shared with many by a man who she calls “a pimp”.
We believe Nika Shahbazzadeh’s portrayal of YASSI as an emotionally-broken person experiencing psychological/physical abuse. Her performance in some scenes is eye-catching.
The police officer (played believably by Payam Ahmadinia) sees YASSI as a drug addict, a good bait to take into custody. The tragic death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran, beaten to death by the morality police while she was in custody, which has raised a global uproar and rage, can tell how horrifying this situation can be for a woman in Iran.
The police, as the situation suggests, is the main cause for the chaotic situation, and the people surrounding the scene are much interested in recording the scene on their cell phones, probably to share it on social media, than helping the helpless Yassi, who takes a 5 or 6-year-old child out of a white SUV as a hostage, thinking she’s saving her out of a pimp’s hands.
Shahnavaz’s social drama shows how a society pushes a broken woman, one who needs help, to feel insecure in the skin of the society and to regard herself as a victim of sexual abuse with each encounter with man.
Avazeh Shahnavaz, the Hot Docs Lindalee Tracey Award winner, uses an observational, documentary-style filmmaking that makes the tragic situation feel so real. The stunning cinematography was created by Salar Ardestani.
The impeccable film editing lets the audience follow the sad story of YASSI without distraction, and welcomes us into exploring the several of many reasons for her broken soul.
THE UNTOUCHABLE is written, directed by AVAZEH SHAHNAVAZ, produced by SERVAT AJAMI, FARID EBRAHIMI, AVAZEH SHAHNAVAZ and distributed by LES FILMS DU 3 MARS.
—
Deed News website:
http://www.deed.news/
Deed News publication on Google News:
http://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPPbsQswgPfIAw/
Deed News on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/DeedNews
Deed News on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/DeedNewsAgency
Deed News company page on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/deed-news
Deed News on Instagram:
http://instagram.com/deed.news
Deed News channel on Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/channels/filmfestivalnews/
Deed News channel on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/channel/UCkH5hQuG-iiIqNw5EFxRy_A