Tuesday March 30, 2010

No one knows about the Persian Cats PARTY: Biorobot + Take It Easy Hospital (Iran) – April, 13th

Titanic International Film Festival (held between the 8^th and 18^th of April) offers a peculiar Iranian film and concert in its musical section. The film, No one knows about the Persian Cats, shows (through the story of musicians from Teheran) how difficult it is to play Western-like rock music in a country where its is forbidden to do so.

Negar and Ashkan are a musical duo, who have been promised a gig in London. They need a backing band, as well as the necessary paperwork that will allow them to leave the country. That paperwork proves impossible to come by legitimately, so they team up with Nader, a bootlegger and blagger, who may be able to provide the connections they need. With passports and visas being made to order, the trio travel the city, listening to local rappers, rockers, singer-songwriters and electro-poppers, who perform wherever they can. With trademark wit and flair, director Bahman Ghobadi presents the film as a fiction, though it feels like a significant document of a movement happening in that city, at this time.