Mohammad Shirvani is a busy as well as versatile filmmaker and video artist. His Tiger-Award candidate Fat Shaker, one of the most remarkable films at this festival, was screened at Sundance and before that he made his installation for the Tea House/Gallery Inside Iran. Now he has made a sort of sculpture, an analogue interactive artwork. Inspired by a short story by Iranian poet Rumi, its basis is a wooden cube, wrapped as a package sent by post from Iran. The box has various holes, so that one can feel its contents. Inside a variety of objects with different textures. It’s a kind of box of horrors – or a box of pleasures, more erotic than scary. Shirvani does not explain the meaning of the box, but it looks obvious that he wants to say something about the situation in his country in a metaphorical way. His films are filled with images like this, making him one of today’s most original Iranian filmmakers.
