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Artist's Hoard Preserves Iran's Hidden History
21 Sep
Summary
- Iranian documentary captures artist Nasser Bakhshi's vast historical archive.
- The film explores pre-Islamic Republic memory through found objects.
- It highlights the intersection of art, politics, and personal history.
Mani Haghighi's documentary, titled "I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies," will premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 30, 2026. The film focuses on Nasser Bakhshi, an Iranian painter, conceptual artist, collector, and curator.
Bakhshi's sprawling archive, located in Tabriz, contains found art objects and non-official historical documents from ancient times to the present. This collection is presented as a unique record of collective memory, preserving individual stories often overlooked by official narratives.
The documentary also features the surrealist paintings of Bakhshi's partner, Roghayeh Najdi, which comment on the role of women in Iranian society. Haghighi's distinct visual language is influenced by filmmakers like Bergman and Parajanov.
Filmed in September 2025, the documentary was made during a period of significant geopolitical tension, including a twelve-day war waged against Iran by Israel and the United States. The director aimed to create art amidst a "mental paralysis" caused by external events.
Haghighi describes Bakhshi's home as having an atmosphere of "deranged hoarding shaped by obsessive order." The process of making the film became intertwined with the archive itself, as the director felt he was entering and feeding into the collection he was documenting.
