Cyanosis

Jamshid Aminfar paints with fervour on the streets of Tehran, using pieces of wood and hubcaps as his canvasses. It generates very little income and no status at all, and Aminfar gets chewed out and sent away on a regular basis. Either that, or his artwork gets flung onto the street. He lies to his wife about his work: "I won't let my wife know that I paint on the pieces of wood I collect in the streets, because she thinks this is a dirty job." In any case, women play an important role in this artist's life. His mother hit him when he was little, he's not happy with his wife, and while being filmed, Aminfar falls for a 22-year-old Parisian girl who expresses interest in his work. When Aminfar gets his first exhibition in a gallery, he decides to declare his love for her. While we watch him paint his colourful and powerful works, we learn a lot about this shy but brave fellow. Supplementary animation produced by director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami and based on Aminfar's work illustrates the inner life of the painter. The documentary moves seamlessly back and forth from animation to reality. Eyes play a prominent role in Aminfar's paintings, as do diabolical humanoid creatures, droning monsters and insects. But so do hearts, which stand for hope and love. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)