A Simple Event

Made clandestinely with little money and a skeleton crew, Sohrab Shahid Saless’s 1973 debut feature is a quietly, mysteriously simmering masterpiece.

A Simple Event follows a few days in the life of a young boy living beside the Caspian Sea. Remarkably, Shahid Saless inspires viewers to respond emotionally to characters seemingly devoid of any feeling themselves; the simple event of the film’s title refers, perhaps, to a sudden and tragic death, or perhaps instead to the mundane sounds of dogs barking and crickets chirping.

This feature will screen with the short film Rhythm (dir. Manouchehr Tayyab, 1964).