Director: Zara Zandieh

Videoinstallation

Germany, 18 min

In the mid-1990s, the African-American visionary author, Octavia E. Butler, published two novels later to be called the „Parable Series“. In “Parable of the Sower“ and “Parable of the Talents” Butler tells the story of a community struggling to survive the environmental, socioeconomic and political collapse of 21st-century USA. Butler, who died in 2006, created characters and worlds that remain highly topical today. Her complex characters are genderfluid time travelers, atrocity survivors, Black Women and People of Color. Inspired by the Parabels, OCTAVIA’S VISIONS speaks to contemporary themes of environmental degradation, far right extremism, and social liberation. The poetic piece expresses a queer utopian imaginary, a longing to create something new out of the old.

2021|Officially Selected for German Competition of 67th Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (World Premiere), Oberhausen/ Germany 2021 | 71st Berlinale, Forum Special Programme: “Fiktionsbescheinigung. 16 Cinematic Perspectives on Germany“, Berlin/ Germany
2021| Officially Selected for German Competition of 37th Hamburg Short Film Festival, Hamburg/ Germany
2021 | Sheffield DocFest, Arts Programme, Sheffield/ UK (International Premiere)
2021 | Officially Selected for Inside Out, Toronto/ Canada (Canada Premiere)
2021| I+N FCQSFF Image+Nation Festival Courts Queer Shorts Film Festival, Tiohtiá:ke (Montréal)/ Canada
2021 | Queer Diasporas exhibition at Nieuwe Vide, Amsterdam/ Netherlands
2021| Humboldt Forum, as part of Berlin Art Week Connect, Berlin/ Germany
2021 | POW Film Fest, Seattle/ USA
2021 | 25th Queer Lisboa, Officially Selected for Short Film Competition and Best Short Film Award, Lisbon/ Portugal
2021 | 74th Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland/ UK
2021 | Govanhill International Film Festival and Carnival, Glasgow/ UK
2021 | 12th Queer Film Festival Oldenburg, Oldenburg/ Germany
2021 | Filma. Feminist Film Festival, Ukraine
2021 | 26th Seattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle/ USA
2021 | 3rd Las Vegas Queer Arts & Film Festival, Las Vegas/ USA
2021 | Officially Selected for Queer Shorts Competition, 35th Leeds International Short Film Festival, Leeds/ UK
2021 | Officially Selected for German Competition 15th KFFK / Short Film Festival Cologne UNLOCKED, Köln/ Germany
2021 – 2022 | Our Silver City 2094, exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham/ UK
2021 | Cineclub Mocambo, Brazil 2021