Sohrab Shahid Saless, 1975, Iran, 91 min / New 4K Restoration
Turkish immigrant Husseyin (Iranian actor and director Parviz Sayyad) spends his days in hypnotic routine as a “guest worker” in ‘70s West Berlin, living in a small, shared apartment and commuting daily to his job at a factory pressing machine parts. Diligently saving up his wages he hopes to one day marry and buy a house back home, but his immediate future in Berlin is clouded by indignities at the hands of racist coworkers and botched attempts at romantic intimacy. With only his fellow immigrant housemates as patchwork community, Husseyin perseveres with a quiet dignity in the face of an alienating country.
One of the most celebrated filmmakers in Iranian cinema, Sohrab Shahid Saless (Still Life) directed Far From Home at a pivot period in his own life, as he transitioned from Iran to living and working in Berlin. A masterwork of restraint, repetition and patience, the film is at once a chronicle of the quotidian and a deeply observed, resonant portrait of the immigrant experience.