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Return of the Repressed

A film by Mazyar Mahan · 2023 · Short film · 3 min

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Synopsis

A meditation on what is pushed down, and what finds its way back.

In Return of the Repressed, Mazyar Mahan draws attention to the continuous repression of women by the fundamentalist regime in Iran. Based on the psychoanalytical concepts of “dream” and “repression,” the film portrays the experiences of Iranian women who have left their homeland but are still haunted by memories of past oppression.

Shot in black and white, it follows a woman through an ordinary town, past clocks and empty streets, until what she has buried returns. Return of the Repressed sheds light on the lasting effects of religious oppression and is dedicated to the women of Iran who are rising up against decades of oppression.

Director’s statement

Return of the Repressed began with a question I kept returning to: what happens to oppression after you leave the place where it happened? For many Iranian women, exile did not end it. It moved inward, into dreams, habits, and the body’s reflexes.

I built the film around the psychoanalytic idea of the return of the repressed: what we push out of awareness comes back in another form.

I dedicated the film to the women of Iran who are rising up against decades of oppression. Their courage is why I keep making films about what cannot be left behind.

— Mazyar Mahan

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