Breathful

Plot synopsis

Two friends, Berta Taies Farzan and Fuss Narges Rashidi, get drugs on credit from the drug lord Sigi (Monika Schubert) in an attempt to get rich. When they are unable to sell the drugs they bring them back to Sigi and ask her to forget the deal. Still needing money, Berta continues to hold up store clerks while Fuss leisurely calls on her society friends, much to Berta’s aggravation. Fuss soon suggests that they become painters and sell their art for a living, so that Berta may stop her dangerous store robberies. The two friends try out Fuss’ plans, and put on a show exhibiting their paintings. Their newly found success ends abruptly, however, when Fuss has an affair with Naomi (Tina McErvale), Sigi's daughter, provoking the drug lord and causing her to kill the two artists. The film ends in a shootout, and the bloody bodies of Berta and Fuss are carried off the screen by the mysterious taxi-driver, Benny Hur (Souzan Alavi).

Cast

Art Design

Background

Shokof cast two Iranian lead actresses, Taies Frazan and Narges Rashidi, to enhance Breathful's message of gender equality. In his native country of Iran, women are unjustly treated by the country's leaders, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, influential religious officials, and the traditional Muslim society as a whole. By adapting a genre that is usually dominated by men, the gangster film, and not making use of a single male actor throughout, Shokof shows that women are just as capable as their male counterparts.

Production

The film was produced by Daryush Shokof, Taies Farzan, Shahin Shokoofandeh entirely in Berlin, Germany.

Awards

Daryush Shokof won the Best Director award for Breathful in the 2007 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.