Director: Mitra Farahani

Cast: Bahman Mohasses

Fifi az Khoshhali Zooze Mikeshad is a 2013 Iranian-French-American documentary directed by Mitra Farahani, tracing the story of Bahman Mohassess, one of the most singular visual artists of twentieth-century Iran, through rare archival footage and a final filmed encounter with the reclusive painter and sculptor in Rome.

What is Fifi az Khoshhali Zooze Mikeshad about?

Before the 1979 revolution, Bahman Mohassess built a reputation as one of Iran's boldest modernists. Trained in Italy, he worked across sculpture and painting, producing figurative bronze works whose frank depictions of the human body repeatedly provoked censure in his homeland. After the revolution he vanished from the public record entirely — his canvases reportedly destroyed, his whereabouts unknown for decades. Director Mitra Farahani spent years tracking him down, eventually locating him in Rome in the final period of his life. The film documents their conversations, weaving together memories of a creative career conducted largely against the grain, and raises questions about what becomes of an artist whose body of work is systematically erased.

Cast & crew

Bahman Mohassess (1931–2010) was a painter and sculptor whose figurative work drew on classical European traditions while remaining deeply personal in its imagery. Director Mitra Farahani, an Iranian filmmaker based in France, constructed the documentary around extended conversations with Mohassess in Rome, allowing him to speak in his own voice about his life and practice.

Context & significance

For Persian-speaking audiences abroad, this documentary carries particular resonance. Mohassess represents a generation of Iranian artists whose careers were shaped by the pre-revolutionary cultural scene and then disrupted or erased by the events of 1979. His story is not unique, but few artists of his stature left behind so complete a silence. The film functions as an act of cultural recovery, recovering a figure largely unknown to younger diaspora audiences who grew up after his disappearance. It also raises broader questions about artistic legacy, censorship, and the fate of creative work produced at odds with prevailing social norms — themes that continue to matter deeply to Iranian communities around the world.

Where & how to watch

Fifi az Khoshhali Zooze Mikeshad is available on K-Time with original audio and no Persian subtitles or dubbing. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.