Shirin’s Bitter Tears

Shirin, a female filmmaker under a travel ban due to restrictions on artistic activities, has turned to street vending and in order to reclaim her confiscated items, she enters the cold and harsh environment of the municipal office.
This film portrays the artistic censorship imposed on filmmakers and the suppression of freedom of expression by bureaucratic mismanagement and inefficiency of government organizations. It also addresses the current government’s stance on women. A young actress enters the filmmaker’s office and portrays Shirin, an internationally banned filmmaker. Despite the end of her audition, she continues to immerse herself in the role of Shirin, reminding herself of the bitter experiences she has endured and the loss of freedom.

This is what the jury of 15th MikroFAF Serbia has written about Shirin’s Bitter Tears
The film resonates with a poetic note, simultaneously immersing us in the nuances of artistic survival within a repressive environment. Amin Falah presents a portrait of an artist trapped between a longing for freedom and a social system that views art as a potential transgression. In such a space, questions arise about what an individual, symbolically silenced, manages to articulate as resistance within their means.

In other words, her style might appear as a limitation, leaving many stories hovering on the margins of her experience untold. However, it is precisely this approach to filmmaking that allows the viewer to inhabit these gaps and contribute to their meaning, questioning the role of a system that generates the silence of artistic expression.

Subtle yet bold, Shirin’s Bitter Tears revisits the age-old question of the artist’s role in political and social struggles, addressing it with remarkable sensitivity to the contemporary context. Through the film, Amin Falah raises a universal question about rebellion, collective engagement, and the boundaries of creativity in a world where art is relegated to the periphery of life.

Categories: Melodrama