A PORTRAIT OF EXILE

Sreemoyee Singh’s documentary about the lives of Iranian artists is born out of years of labour and groundwork

- Tatsam Mukherjee

Acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi would often have one request for documentary filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh, whenever accompanying her for a shoot: he'd ask her to sing. Interviewing the Iranian auteur for her debut feature And, Towards Happy Alleys, which will have its world premiere at Berlinale 2023 in the Panorama section, Singh began the project with an intent to explore the lives of filmmakers living in exile in and outside Iran. Only much later did she understand that Panahi’s requests had to do with his nation’s strict modesty code’. I realised Panahi got pleasure in hearing me sing, because he hadn't heard a woman sing in public in more than 40 years,” recounts Singh.