The Butterflies Are Just a Step Behind

Colour, 35 mm
Iran, 2004, 80 min
Section: Another View
Oficiální stránky: www.shortfilm-ir.com

Synopsis

The terrible floods that devastated northern Iran turned Neda?s life upside down as well: they took her mother away. The eight-year-old girl has experienced a terrible shock and finds herself living with her father’s new family. The new wife has no intention of accepting Neda but her stepbrother looks mercifully upon the silent little girl with her sad eyes. When a hospital in the city refuses to take her in, he tries to reawaken her interest in the surrounding world. They spend some days at a lakeshore fish farm and the tragedy begins to lessen. There, butterflies hover above flowers and flocks of birds nest: their secrets are the stuff of legends. The majestic beauty of nature - a purifying spa for the soul - draws out Neda’s artistic talent. Reality transforms into poetic images and gives birth to a story about a young painter lost in an unfriendly world.

About the director

Mohammad Ebrahim Moaiery (b. 1973, Behshahr, Iran) graduated in film direction and worked as a writer and director of films for children and young adults. The Butterflies Are Just a Step Behind is his feature film debut and was screened at the festival in Turin (2004) and at the New Iranian Film Week in Baku, Azerbaijan (2004).