The short film SUBTOTALS by Mohammadreza Farzad is a poetic film essay that touches deeply the humanist essence of existence. The 15-minute-long film consists of edited home movies, scenes from the life of Iranian society shot on 8 mm film.

Film trailer: vimeo.com

The film was made in the vnLab Film Essay Studio as a Polish-German-Iranian co-production.

- The film SUBTOTALS is one of five projects selected from the competition announced by Film Essay Studio in the summer of 2021. Mohammadreza Farzad's idea captivated the committee with its simplicity and poetics. The film’s premiere took place in February 2022 at the Berlinale in the Forum Expanded section. 

Since then it has been shown at many international festivals including Oberhausen and IDFA, and in Poland at Millennium Docs Against Gravity. It's still being submitted to others. We already know that it will be shown at ZagrebDox and at the Modern Museum of Art in Stockholm. Shows and awards have an additional dimension for us. The shots used in the essay show Iran before the revolution, which takes on additional meanings in the context of current events." – said Dagna Kidoń, the producer of the film. 

At the Clermont-Ferrand Festival, the film was included in the Lab Competition programme and won 2 awards: the Award for Best Documentary from the festival's partners and the Jury's Special Mention (Lab Special Mention).

Complete list of winners: clermont-filmfest.org

The interview with the director, Mohammadreza Farzad: clermont-filmfest.org/en/cafe-court-mohammadreza-farzad/

SUBTOTALS | SUMY CZĘŚCIOWE | MAJMOUAN
direction: Mohammadreza Farzad
screenplay: Mohammadreza Farzad
camera: archive footage
editing: Amir Adibparvar
music: Afshin Azizi
prod. Krzysztof Franek, Kuba Mikurda, Stanisław Liguziński, Afsun Moshiry, Dagna Kidoń