- Iran
CARELESS CRIME
Synopsis
In August 1978, shortly before the revolution, men set fire to the Rex Cinema in the Iranian city of Abadan; several hundred spectators burned to death because the doors were locked. In “Careless Crime” (Iran 2020), Shahram Mokri places four present-day men at the same site: they want to set a cinema alight, procure petrol, look over the auditorium – casually, without any discernible motive, while a film about the Abadan fire plays inside. The film within the film and the preparation of the act converge until it is no longer certain which year one is in or who is sitting in the auditorium.
Mokri is not interested in reconstructing the crime but in its repetition: time runs in circles, scenes recur displaced, audience and perpetrators exchange places. The opening titles make clear that this is not a re-enactment – the film asks why the fire cannot be put out. “Careless Crime” premiered in 2020 in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival, where it won the award for best screenplay. The film was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2020.
Festival
Shown at the 2020 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.
