This year’s London Breeze Film Festival runs from 21-25 Oct. I am reviewing a handful of films from this year’s 11th edition, with its biggest in-cinema programme to date. Tonight, the 22 Oct, the Festival presents the UK premiere and debut feature of Iranian director Sahand Kabiri.
Set against the backdrop of state censorship and cultural expectations, The Crowd (Jama’at) follows a young gay man, Hamed (Keyvan Mohammadi), and his free-spirited friends as they plot a secret underground farewell party for his partner, Raman (Farz Modiri).
Iran is very much recognised as a country of family responsibility, censorship, and social surveillance, where individualism is frowned upon, so for a film like The Crowd (Jama’at) to even exist is notable enough. That it succeeds as well as it does is secondary. It also allows audiences in the West to gain a nuanced perspective on daily life there.
Kabiri is the film’s writer, director, and actor in a small supporting part. He was motivated to make The Crowd (Jama’at) as a response to some real-life events in his country, and what stands out is the natural rhythm of the dialogue and the small things that make a relationship real.
It isn’t just the gay couple who find it difficult in Tehran; the sister, Mahya (Katayoun Saleki), overwhelmed by family responsibilities at home, is equally scrutinised and trapped. What is notable in this film is the concept of agency, and the chosen community that supports the choices made.
The traditional older brother, Mahmood (Mohsen Khoeiniha), who values the accepted roles of heteronormativity and household authority, has taken on the family leadership role after the death of the father, but rules with an unbending cruelty and prejudice while disclosing his financial failings. In Iran, same-sex sexual relations are illegal, so his actions could also be dangerous if he revealed his brother’s domestic life to the authorities.
In making Raman and Hamed’s relationship so ordinary, pedestrian, even, with the focus on domesticity rather than defiance, The Crowd (Jama’at) offers a strong counterpoint to Mahmood’s conservatism.
In his scene-setting and composition, Kabiri offers a quiet comment on the nature of community and the support of friends. He can be just as direct in the scene where Mahya offers Hamed a cigarette as in the garage confrontation.
The place of religion, of love, and of ambition – Raman seeking a visa to leave the country – are all very pertinent to the plot of The Crowd (Jama’at). On the one side, there is what the world you live in sees as right, good, and clean. On the other, those who are prepared to challenge that narrative.
A provoking and intriguing film, e, The Crowd (Jama’at) may be slight at first look, but the cultural context surrounding it makes it worthwhile.
The Crowd is at the London Breeze Film Festival at Riverside Studios, 22 Oct.