Words & Pictures:

A Brief Film Review: “A Revolution on Canvas”
By Mountain Shadow Director, John Bennison

As I write some brief comments about our film selection for this month, Asia-Pacific nations have representatives meeting in San Francisco; while demonstrators shut down our Bay Bridge, protesting the consequences to Palestinian civilians on the other side of the globe; as a result of Israel’s retaliatory strikes against a terrorist organization in Gaza. The United States expresses concern over a widening conflict, including Iran’s involvement. We do indeed seem to live in a global village.

Then I recall it was only six weeks ago that the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for – as the prize committee put it -- “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” For those of us who remember the Iranian revolution in the late-seventies (last century), there is an air of familiarity. And it occurs to me, today’s news is in many ways, once again, a tale re-told.

In this sense, Sara Nodjoumi’s new documentary film and personal memoir, “A Revolution on Canvas,” could not be more timely. An Iranian artist flees his country, due to an exhibition of his paintings that are deemed politically subversive to the regime at the time.

Over the years, our film society has presented a number of films about painters: “Hilma,” “My Rembrandt,” “Loving Vincent,” and “Paula.” When an artist puts brush to canvas, the viewer is left to interpret what is being expressed; to one degree or another. It is said that a picture can be worth a thousand words. In this case, a motion picture about the consequences of an artist’s overt and deliberate message can obviously be far more consequential! jb

A Zoom Recording of our Q&A with the filmmaker can be watched HEREs://vimeo.com/886118182?share=copy.