WOLFGANG

In this acid trip opera, the life of 22-year-old Mozart is reimagined to tell the present-day story of an Iranian artist exiled in Paris. Navigating grief, destructive tendencies and creative expression, the artists’ lives swirl together in a time and gender-queering ode to self-transformation. 

In 1778, a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was in exile in Paris: reeling from his mother’s death, he spent his days writing scatalogical music and drowning in libertine excess. In this genre-defying ‘audiovisual opera’, Mozart’s life becomes a portal into that of Wolfgang, an Iranian artist navigating similar extremes as he too is exiled in Paris: the city where everyone says his dreams will come true, and praises him for escaping the censorship of his homeland.

WOLFGANG tells its protagonist’s story in overtures and arias, sliding between hallucinogenic, candy-coloured fever dreams, and painterly black-and-white chiaroscuros. Ghazal Shojaei, herself an exiled Iranian actress, is enthralling as Wolfgang, while writer, director and composer Filmsaaz’s dub-laced reinterpretations of Mozart’s music reclaim the perversity and latent queerness of one of the most revered composers in history. Gradually, every scene strips away another layer of artifice: revealing a moving journey towards self-discovery, and intricate reflections on making art in political exile. An assured artistic statement of demented virtuosity – and beauty – that would make its muse proud.

– Xuanlin Tham

Trailer

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