The House Is Black

© The House is Black (Forugh Farrokzhad, 1963)

The House Is Black

Forugh Farrokzhad, who died at the age of 32, was an influential Iranian poet and filmmaker. She was found controversial in her home country, and her work was banned for a long time, mainly because of her feminist voice. Incidentally, she often nuanced this herself: "Gender does not play any role in art, that very idea is unethical. But of course my poems have a feminine look, after all, I am a woman," she once said in a radio interview.

Her 'protest poetry' is also palpable in her films, including The House is Black which is set in a leper colony in northern Iran. There, Farrokhzad depicts the daily life of its inhabitants, not shying away from the various stages of leprosy. In a very raw and poetic manner, she shows life with the disease.

The House is Black is part of a short film program on Iranian cinema, which also includes two films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Maryam Takafory's recent film Nazarbazi.