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film and video art
Duration: 00:06:40
Witnesses to a murder, each with their own story—yet none leading to the truth, for they were all asleep.
DIRECTOR, WRITER : Shayan Naghibi
PRODUCER : Nader Samanian
CAST : Paria Latifi, Michka Khodabandeh, Azin Raouf, Sevda Hamrang, Shadi Saeedkho, Amin Momeni, Pezhman Zolghadri,
CONTACTS / LINKS @Shayan._.naghibi Profile (IMDB)
Director’s Statement
For me, cinema is not merely a medium to tell stories—it is a way to reveal the hidden layers of silence, fear, and repression that shape our lives. The Dreaming Witness was born out of my fascination with fractured memory, the ambiguity of testimony, and the blurred border between dream and reality.
The film addresses the suffocating weight of social and cultural repression, particularly against women and marginalized identities in Iran. Every testimony in the film is both a revelation and a concealment, pushing the truth further into darkness. Rather than offering certainty, I wanted the film to embody doubt, silence, and the violence of erasure.
As an artist deeply influenced by European cinema and existentialist thought, I see The Dreaming Witness as an exploration of form as much as of theme: a psychological crime drama where fragmented voices expose not only a murder, but also the invisible structures of control and suppression that persist in society.
Bio
Shayan Naghibi (b. 2000, Iran) is a filmmaker and animation director. He holds a B.A. in Film Directing and a diploma in Animation, and has completed multiple directing courses and workshops. His works include the short animations Lightweight like Flight, The Look, and Hands; the experimental film The Last Snow; and the short fiction When Cotard Comes. His films have been selected and awarded at various international film festivals, including Oscar-qualifying events. With each project, Naghibi explores the intersection of cinematic form and human experience, moving between animation, experimental cinema, and short fiction. The Dreaming Witness is his latest short film.
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Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved. Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.