Hidden

A short documentary made in Iran. Jafar Panahi sets out by car with his daughter and a friend. They are going to a Kurdish village near Mahabad. The reason is a piece of news: there is a woman in the village who sings very well and nobody can hear her. Her family will not allow it. She can neither perform nor be recorded. The team reaches the village. The conversations take place at the door, in the yard and inside the car. The woman stays behind a curtain; her face is never seen. Panahi asks her direct questions: why she wants to sing, why her family objects, how she carries the situation. The answers are short. In the end she sings. Her voice comes from behind the curtain and the film leaves its whole subject to that one thing. It was shot entirely on a phone and largely from inside the car. It runs eighteen minutes. The narrative offers no solution and blames nobody; it records the situation as it is. Jafar Panahi directed. He was banned from making films at the time, and that restriction shapes the form directly. A short but effective production for anyone interested in documentary and Iranian cinema. For a viewer expecting a long narrative, this is a short film and consists of a single encounter.