Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave, New York
Sunday, June 30
7:30 pm

Join us on Sunday, June 30 at the Anthology Film Archives for the U.S. premiere of Rahmaneh Rabani and Bahman Kiarostami’s Impasse (2023), a microcosmic documentary about rising religious and political conflicts within one Tehrani family. Remarkable for the candor of its conversations, Impasse intimately captures an Iranian domestic discourse rarely seen on film.

Rahmaneh Rabani, Bahman Kiarostami
Impasse
2023, 89 min, DCP
Persian with English subtitles

“Until the age of twenty-two, I was just like the rest of my family, a believer and fully veiled,” says Rahmaneh Rabani, who was raised in an ultra-conservative household in Iran. After a crisis of faith in her early twenties, she diverged from her family’s wishes, especially those of Haj Akbar — the family patriarch — a loyal subject deeply formed by his experiences during the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. After the death of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of Iranian authorities in 2022, Rabani participated in anti-regime protests that shook the country. She also began filming her interactions with her observant family, reigniting old conflicts. Produced in collaboration with Bahman Kiarostami, Impasse captures Rabani’s remarkably direct and emotionally-charged conversations with three generations of her own family — parents, siblings, nieces, and in-laws — most of whom remain steadfastly supportive of the government and its mandatory hijab laws. Impasse offers an intimate, tense, and ultimately moving portrait of Iranian society at a critical juncture.

Rahmaneh Rabani is an artist, filmmaker, and editor. Impasse is her first feature.

Bahman Kiarostami is a Tehran-based documentary filmmaker. His most recent film is Fereydoun in Late Summer.

$14 General Admission / $10 Students, Seniors
Tickets available on the Anthology Film Archives website