Past Future Continuous
Decades after leaving Iran, Maryam now lives in the United States, while her parents remain in Tehran. As they grow older and political tensions rise, she feels anxious. She encourages them to install cameras so she can stay in direct contact from afar. Maryam is acutely aware of how lonely her parents must have been all those years. She reflects on a life spent away from them, growing up in Tehran, and why she never returned. When the internet in Iran is cut off, images freeze or disappear, severing Maryam’s connection to her homeland. Past and present intertwine and blur. A poetic and moving exploration of exile, memory, and the hidden bonds with places one can no longer return to – places that can only be visited in dreams, through technology, or nostalgia. It is nostalgia that forms the foundation of this thoughtful and philosophical film.
