Cinematic Synesthesia III
23rd + 25th + 26th November, Kino Moviemento
Launched in 2023, Cinematic Synesthesia has, from its inception, explored cinema as a
self-reflexive phenomenon. Now, in its third edition, it ventures further into cinema’s
noumenal existence—treating film not merely as a sequence of images but as an
autonomous perception and a form of metaphysical inquiry in its own right. Echoing a
Kantian framework, this edition posits cinema as a thing-in-itself, a medium that gazes
back at us. Here, the screen becomes both mirror and portal: cinema is its own subject, a
consciousness dreaming in light and shadow, inviting us to ponder what lies beyond the
visible.
In this vision, the act of filmmaking emerges as a radical, political gesture—a direct
confrontation with reality in a world torn by violence, war, and atrocity. To create a film
is to resist oblivion. Each frame bears defiant witness, transforming suffering and
upheaval into images of truth. The camera does not turn away from chaos or pain; it faces
them unflinchingly, turning observation into outcry. In Cinematic Synesthesia III,
creation becomes an act of courage and dissent: the filmmaker’s eye challenges darkness,
wrests meaning from devastation, and finds poetry amid the rubble.
This year’s programme unfolds as a triptych of cinematic explorations, each a collective
invocation of this ethos. One constellation is born of an intensive masterclass (part of the
EFS Film School), in which participants join forces to craft a collaborative film. The
result is a communal opus—a tapestry of many voices woven into a single vision—
exemplifying collective authorship and the proposition that cinema can be co-created as a
unified organism. Another constellation is illuminated by Tehran’s Left Bank Cinema, an
underground collective devoted to radical non-fiction and the rejection of cinematic
hierarchy. In Left Bank’s hands, filmmaking becomes a fiercely democratic art. Their
works are forged in collaboration and often screened in clandestine, anti-hierarchical
gatherings; they blur the line between document and dream, remapping reality through an
egalitarian lens. Fuelled by an underground spirit, these films shatter orthodoxies and
reclaim the act of seeing as a shared, subversive experience.
Completing the triptych, Cinematic Synesthesia III continues its engagement with
contemporary experimental cinema by filmmakers affiliated with the Experimental Film
Society. These new works — by a diverse lineage of EFS artist-filmmakers from Iran and
beyond — push the boundaries of personal, poetic filmmaking. Each film is a singular
journey, yet all reflect a devotion to cinema as an archaeology of the present. Through
ritualistic experimentation and an almost alchemical interplay of sound and image, these
filmmakers excavate the ephemeral now to unearth new myths and hidden truths. The result is a heterogeneous mosaic of visions that, collectively, form a polyphonic meditation on what cinema can be.
Together, the three currents of Cinematic Synesthesia III advance a singular idea: that
film is a living, breathing inquiry into reality itself.
This edition memorialises cinema as fossilised consciousness and living vision—a medium that both remembers and reimagines, that bears witness and rebels. Eschewing storytelling and information, the films disturb the given order—unsettling, subverting, detonating—so that cinema may emerge as an autonomous force rather than a mirror.
Programme One:
The Exquisite Corpse Project — the outcome of the Experimental and Personal Filmmaking Masterclass
23 November 2025, 18:00 — Kino Moviemento, Berlin
At the time of writing, this film does not yet exist; its very absence is the enigma it
advances. Conceived as an event rather than a prefabricated object, it will be realised
within an intensive two-day masterclass co-hosted by EFS Film School and the Tehran
Contemporary Sounds (TCS) Festival. Participants will conceive, intuit, and compose
images and sounds through a lyrical, non-scripted practice—improvising, devising, and
assembling a collaborative work that will make its first appearance in this screening. In
this sense, the premiere and the workshop are inseparable: the film arrives not as a
finished artefact but as the trace of its own becoming—process become form. Eschewing
prior narrative scaffolding and informational delivery, it posits that cinema can be
constituted in the present, unsettling, subverting, and detonating habituated ways of
seeing. All participating filmmakers will be present for an extended discussion and Q&A,
opening the work to the same risk, scrutiny, and collective thought that animated its
creation within this programme.
Total running time: TBC.
Programme Two:
Films by the Left Bank Cinema Collective, Tehran
25 November 2025, 20:00 — Kino Moviemento, Berlin
Lady in Red (2024) — 6 min — Maedeh Mohsenpour, Iran
Epilogue in Prologue (2025) — 14 min — Zahra Qodsi, Iran
Listen, Do You Hear the Wind of Darkness (2023) — 5 min — Maryam Mortazavi, Iran
Hegemony (2023) — 8 min — Maryam Mortazavi, Iran
Ghorab Jendoon (2024) — 5 min — Fatemeh Akbari Mehr, Iran
The Short Ceiling (2024) — 18 min — Fatemeh Akbari Mehr, Iran
It Was Snowing in That Burnt Room (2025) — 33 min — Fatemeh Akbari Mehr, Iran
The Q&A will be conducted online via Zoom, bringing together members of Left Bank
Cinema and the filmmakers featured in the programme. This interactive discussion
invites the audience to engage directly with the artists, hear about their creative
processes, and participate actively by posing questions and sharing reflections.
Total running time: 89 minutes.
Programme Three:
A curated selection of films created by filmmakers affiliated with or closely associated with the Experimental Film Society
26 November 2025, 20:00 — Kino Moviemento, Berlin
Hoping for Freedom (2022) — 4 min — Mahdi Falahati, Iran
Zamino Zamaan (2025) — 10 min — Yasaman Pishvaei, Germany/Iran
Scrying Session #1 (2023) — 14 min — Daniel Zander, Germany
Blind ins Auge (2025) — 20 min — Mehrad Sepahnia and Atefeh Kheirabadi,
Germany/Iran
Thanatophobia (2022) — 11 min — Ieva Balode and Michael Higgins, Latvia/Ireland
Alicia (2024) — 25 min — Juana Robles, Ireland
Most of the filmmakers featured in this programme will be present for an in-person
discussion moderated by Rouzbeh Rashidi. Following the screening, a Q&A will invite
the audience to engage directly with the filmmakers, offering an opportunity to explore
their creative processes, conceptual approaches, and the ideas underlying their works.
Total running time: 84 minutes.
TCS is funded by Hauptstadt Kulturfonds and Goethe Institut im Exil!