Windows

World Premiere

USA | 110 MINUTES | English |

WINDOWS

Shoja Azari weaves together a loosely constructed narrative based on 9 single-shot scenes in which windows play a central role in the storytelling. This dark, violent vision of American society presents scenes of office rage, rape, and gun violence. Using the image of a window as a unifying motif (and in one case, the mind's eye), Azari mediates between the internal and the external. In each sequence, he creates an elaborate visual choreography. As the camera pans, tilts, and tracks through the cinematographic space, the protagonists enact their own dramas across different planes of action. Throughout this process, Azari invokes the viewer's imagination by adroitly exploiting the tension between on-screen and off-screen action. This combination of controlled camera movements and narrative suspense recalls such disparate filmmakers as Michael Snow and Alfred Hitchcock.

CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Shoja Azari

Shoja Azari was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1958. He moved to New York City in 1983 and received an M.A. in Psychology from New York University. In 1997 he met artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat, and together they have created a body of work (short films, video installations, and a multimedia theater piece) that has been exhibited around the world. Azari's debut feature film K, based on three works by Franz Kafka, screened at the Venice Film Festival. Windows is his sophomore feature.