Born in 1985, Karimi is an Iranian filmmaker. His short films, such as Broken Border (2012) and The Adventures of a Married Couple (2013), were presented in numerous international film festivals. Because of his documentary Writing

on the City (2015), focusing on the graffiti of Tehran walls from the 1979 Islamic Revolution to the 2009 re-election of Mohamoud Ahmadinejad, Karimi was arrested and held in isolation for two weeks in December 2013. In October 2015, he was condemned to six years in prison and 223 lashes for "offending Islamic

sacredness." In February 2016, the appeal judgment confirmed all convictions but reduced the prison sentence to one year imprisonment but kept the 223 lashes.

Now authorized to travel, he is currently in Paris in an Artist Residency.

It is the occasion for us to make discover his film to the French audience.

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ABOUT THE FILMS

DRUM - Selected for Critic's Week, Venice Film Festival
Fiction/B&W/95 min/Farsi/France-Iran/2016
*Bravely produced by Les films de l'après-midi*

SYNOPSIS

A middle-aged lawyer works and lives alone in a dreary apartment. One cold and rainy day, a disheveled man breaks in and entrusts him with a small package. The following day, the lawyer's apartment is ransacked and he must fight off threats to hand over the package. Neither his girlfriend nor his best friend can offer much help in solving the mystery. His best friend also happens to be a drug addict with a tendency to speak to an imaginary friend. The lawyer continues to be plagued with break-ins and unwelcome visitors, but he avoids attempts to corrupt him. When his girlfriend is stabbed to death, the lawyer's thirst for revenge will lead him to the greediest man of all...

WRITING ON THE CITY
Documentary/Colors/60 min/Farsi/Iran/2015

SYNOPSIS

In the turmoil following the Iranian revolution that changed not only the political history of Iran but also of the world, pictures of Khomeini and Shariati were everywhere around Tehran. The manifold diversity of slogans added new colours to the city. Then the Iran-Iraq war broke out. Images of martyrs, military leaders and death-defying heroes were now the main subjects. The walls of the city became the social and political thermometre of Iranian society. A new space for public expression was born. Thus, the film conveys the story of the thirty years that extend from the inception of the Islamic revolution to the re-election of Mahmud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Jeune cinéma d'Iran