The White Meadows(HKAFF 2019)

Cementing his status as an activist-auteur, Mohammad Rasoulof invented his own mythology to explore the social and political problems native to his homeland of Iran. Set against the austere scenery of salt-filled Lake Urmia, The White Meadows offers a series of vignettes tied together by the mysterious Rahmat (Hasan Pourshirazi), who travels by boat to various communities to hear people’s sorrows and collect their tears. As preoccupied with protest as Rasoulof’s other films, this stunning work eschews literalism yet remains razor-sharp in its critiques of society’s cruelty and slavish devotion to theology. An elegant, absurd and extraordinary fable that speaks to the politically initiated and uninitiated alike.