Through a collage of personal archive footage and photographs, the history of a small, metaphorical city unfolds, where all streets are named after poets. The town’s psychogeography shapes the mental and emotional state of its inhabitants, who live in a utopian illusion built on poetry. When the system changes and war begins, new neighborhoods arise to house refugees, and the original street names are replaced. Sudden upheavals cause confusion, leaving residents lost in the memories of forgotten poets.
Sara Rajaei - 1976 IRN
Sara Rajaei - 1976 IRN
Sara Rajaei is an Iranian-Dutch video artist and filmmaker based in the Netherlands. Her work explores the concept of time through the lens of the absence of image, memory psychology, oral history, narrative techniques, and the interplay of physical and psychological space. Her artistic practice includes short films and video installations, existing in the space between storytelling and imagery.
After graduating from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2002, Rajaei completed a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 2009, she was shortlisted for the prestigious Prix de Rome. Currently, she is developing her debut feature film, Headless Trees, with support from the Netherlands Film Fund's The Imagination (De Verbeelding) funding scheme, produced by near/by film in co-production with seriousFilm, Ladybirds Film, and Alambic Productions.