Hot Docs 2019
[4369] [tara-hakim] Hakim, Tara
_Beloved_ is a feast for the eyes and heart.
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Beloved
(Iran, 54 min.)
Dir. Yaser Talebi
Programme: World Showcase (Canadian Premiere)
Beautifully filmed with an unlikely subject, Beloved is a feast for the eyes and heart. Directed and filmed by Yaser Talebi, the film follows Firouzrh Khordishi, an eighty-two-year-old herder in the northern mountains of Iran, across the seasons as she tells the story of her life. When she was just 14, her mother arranged for her to be married to a herder who was much older than her and with whom she had 11 children. Sadly, none of them visit her now.
Longing for her children, Firouzeh finds solace in the mountains, where she tends to her cows during the spring and summer months. She hikes across the rugged landscape, herds, gathers wood, milks, makes yogurt and then descends to the village to barter her dairy goods for food. She does this all on her own, without electricity, gas or a phone. As every season passes, the villagers urge her to retire, but she won’t have it. Firouzeh loves the ever-changing nature, the hard life and her cows. At the end of the film, addressing her son she says, “It’s been 60 years I’ve been in the mountain. I am fond of my cows and they are fond of me…my only request is that you don’t leave the cows.”
In glorious colours, this striking and warm portrait captures one of the strongest women of our time: a tenacious personality who lives an admirable traditional life in total harmony with nature; a woman who ultimately chooses independence over everything else.
Beloved screens:
-Thurs, May 2 at 5:15 PM at Cineplex Scotiabank
-Fri, May 3 at 12:30 PM at Cineplex Scotiabank
