Kamyar Mohsenin

In ‘what does it feel like to live inside a pomegranate?’ Iranian-American filmmaker Kamyar Mohsenin transforms a giant pomegranate into a portal. The protagonist ambiguously consumes the fruit in interludes, reflecting the tension between nourishment and the discomfort of engaging with one’s cultural heritage.

As he reconciles with his murder, the soul of a black, feminine gay man is transported to a room where his life, death and dying are all happening now. The story is a homage to the life and death of O'Shea Sibley, a queer Black man who was brutally murdered in NYC for voguing in public.

A young woman discovers a giant pomegranate in the middle of the forest and decides to live inside it.

Twenty Three is a visual interpretation of loss of childhood inspired by Alice in Wonderland and the IU song “Twenty-Three.” It follows the story of Yellow (symbolizing childhood and past) with eerie, cultural, playful and nostalgic element

An experimental short film exploring the relationships between the African diaspora, Islam,and selfhood. The film interprets the adhan, the Islamic public call to prayer, as a religious tool of testament, spiritual bridge between existences, and an apparatus to deepen one’s connection with the divine while existing in the conceptual category of “the West”.Featuring Somali/American actress, Samira Diriye, and the vocal recitations of her sister, Hanan Diriye Hassan, the project was filmed on Super 8mm Vision3 Kodak film stock. Selected photos from the Amon Carter Museum’s repositories of 19th century expansionist American photography, were digitally altered to change pre industrial landscapes, to be fictitiously adorned with picturesque minarets --- the part of a mosque where the call to prayer is projected. 

Amidst the backdrop of social revolution, a baker quietly performs their traditional craft. Bread is symbolic of sustenance, history, and culture, while also regarded as an economic indicator; its basic affordance and accessibility may distinguish the health and prosperity of society. This animated short film visualizes the making of Sangak, an Iranian flatbread, which translates from Farsi into “little stone” for the small heated stones it is baked on top of. Reflecting the concept of the quiet encroachment of the ordinary, the subtle act of baking may be considered as a form of resistance to the external chaos and an assertion of one’s own agency. The film utilizes stop motion animation, paper, pen, pencil, and collaged photographs.The background plates are high resolution images of 13th century ceramic tiles from Kashan,Iran, sourced from The Museum of Islamic Art in Türkiye.