By Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/15/24 – No End tells the compelling story of Gholamali Darbari, a filmmaker whose daring work, Forced Confession, was seized by the Iranian government. Unyielding in his quest to broadcast his message worldwide, Darbari produces a protest selfie video, aiming to reach international platforms like BBC Persian and Iran International. The film serves as a poignant critique of censorship and the relentless fight for freedom of expression in Iran. Shot covertly in October 2023, Navid Nikkhah Azad directed this film before fleeing to the Netherlands to seek political asylum. Azad’s brave endeavor to share this narrative, despite the considerable risks involved, underscores the film’s pressing significance.
The daring, revolutionary film remains uncut to show authenticity of the activists who use social media as a tool in hopes to create change. Courageous director Navid Azad states, “I wanted the whole film to be a selfie. The whole film is based on the idea of protest selfie videos which was made popular in Iran after the revolutionary uprising. Because the whole film is uncut, it sort of symbolizes censorship because when something is uncut, it’s uncensored; we can’t interfere with it. The other thing in Iran, there are many hidden cameras in the streets, and they film people without mandator veiling, and based on what they capture they can call women to court or fine them. So, in a way, the camera represents the way the Islamic republic behaves towards Iran and the oppressive regime there.”
This work is monumental for all of its exposing qualities about the Iranian status quo; there is seemingly no conclusion in site to what is happening. Azad explains, “In Iran there exists a ‘no end’ situation in how the society accepts the dictatorship. The relationship between the dictatorship and society in Iran is a no end situation unless we actually cut our relationship.”
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Navid Nikkhah Azad’s decision to shoot the film entirely as a selfie, without cuts, not only highlights the authenticity of activists’ struggles but also serves as a powerful metaphor for uncensored truth. His courageous act of filming covertly and seeking asylum in the Netherlands amplifies the film’s urgent relevance. No End captures the relentless cycle of repression in Iran, illustrating the fight for resolve between dictatorship and society that persists unless fundamentally challenged.
