The Tree That Remembers
A film by Masoud Raouf
2002, 50 min 19 s
In 1992 a young Iranian student hanged himself on the outskirts of a small Ontario town. Having escaped the Ayatollah's regime and found a new home in Canada, he could not escape his past. News of the young strangers death hit tome with Masoud Raouf. He too was part of the generation who fought for democracy during the reign of the Shah. With The Tree that Remembers, Raouf assembled a group of Iranians -all former political prisoners like himself, who were active in the democratic movement. Blending their testimony with historical footage and original artwork, he honours the memory of the dead and celebrates the resilience of the living.
Shekoufeh, petite and soft-spoken, spent eight years in jail, confined for months on end in a coffin-like box. Reza, now a professor of economics, has written about his imprisonment in Weeping Tulips. Firouzeh was separated from her family for years, following a 10-minute trial before a group of fundamentalist clerics.
Ex-political prisoners who have gone through this experience build walls around themselves, says Farzad. Their eyes have been opened to the capability of all mankind to inflict such evil. And this intuitive sensitivity remains in them.
Framing these accounts are scenes from Iran's recent past. The cruel ironies of history are startling in 1979 footage of International Women's Day. Enthusiastic crowds of women take to the streets of Tehran, young and old, walking arm-in-arm towards a better tomorrow. Having helped to topple the brutal regime that had come to power in the 1953 CIA-backed coup, they are buoyant with victory and hope. A new day is dawning. How can they foresee the dark age about to engulf them?
Throughout Raouf uses his own animated artwork to create an imagined sanctuary, shimmering.
Masoud Raouf is originally from Iran where he studied painting, Masoud Raouf has lived in Canada since 1988. After studying in the animation program at Ontario's Sheridan College, he produced and directed a number of animated shorts and public service announcements. He has also taught the art of animation in a number of institutions.
In 2002, he directed a film for the National Film Board of Canada, the documentary The Tree that Remembers, in which he tries to understand what led to the suicide of an Iranian student who was living in Canada as a refugee. The film won the Silver Award for Best Canadian Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Social Documentary at Yorkton and the Bronze Plaque at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival.
In 2003, he completed Blue Like a Gunshot, produced by the National Film Board of Canada's French Animation and Youth Studio. This film won the 2004 Jutra for the best short animation in Quebec, as well as winning best animation prizes at the Moondance and Vermont International Film Festivals in the same year. It has also been screened in the opening nights of several major film festivals including the Montreal World Film Festival and Toronto's Worldwide Short Film Festival.
Discussion panel with director and main characters:
The video is in English
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