Crossed-Out Memories

Directed by Nasser Saffarian

A fascinating insight into the Iranian pop music industry, Nasser Saffarian examines the history of the 'anti-love song,' a form that rejects the idea of the conventional love song in favor of darker subject matter, such as bitterness, betrayal and regret. Featuring interviews with established musicians and poets such as Shahkar Binesh Pajouh, Pari Zanganeh, and Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, the film details the genre’s emergence in the early 2000s. However, we learn that anti-love song themes have existed as far back as the 1960s. An absorbing, fantastically researched film.