Graduated as an architect, Mehran Tamadon directed Mothers of Martyrs in 2004, then Bassidji in 2009, in which he attempted to dialogue with the defenders of the Iranian regime. He continued this approach with Iranian, where he convinced supporters of the regime to live in cohabitation with him. His latest films, My Worst Enemy and Where God Is Not, presented at the Berlinale in 2023, deal with the violence of interrogation and detention in Iran.
Where God Is Not
Where God Is Not
Where God Is Not
Taghi, Homa and Mazyar were arrested and interrogated by the Iranian regime. All three testify with their bodies, with their gestures and tell what it means to resist, and what it means to break. Is there any hope that the torturer will one day reconnect with his conscience?
'It is a film based on the testimonials of those who have been brutally treated by the Iranian regime. It seeks to understand how the most repressive aspects of this totalitarian system rely on imprisonment and torture. What does the torturer do? What are his gestures and practices? How can the fight be carried out? These are questions that have haunted me since the first feature film I made in Iran on the regime's militia. Once again, I am trying to understand power by looking at it from the perspective of those who have directly experienced the violence meted out by the Iranian regime.' - Mehran TAMADON