When You Went Away

Director: Amir Soleimani [in person], 2016, Canada, 5 minutes, Music Video Cast: Faramarz Aslani, Babak Amini

The video begins with an aerial view of a train heading towards a tunnel. A train whistle is heard, and white smoke can be seen blowing up into the air. A man, Faramarz Aslani, remains behind while the train takes his beloved away. Sadness creeps in. A melancholy music fills the air. The words “When you departed….” begin to echo through his mind, with each step he takes on the track, getting farther and farther away from the train. Returning home, where the two used to live together, he feels the emptiness in every corner. He gazes out the window through which they used to witness the world go by. He rifles through the empty hangers in the commode, which no longer bear her clothes.

“When you went away,
All went away. 
The good days,
Never to be returned.” 

The music circles on in his head. Realizing that her farewell could be forever, he looks at her picture and gently flips it down, as if the site of her is too painful to bear, as if she has accepted the finality of it all. The music lingers on. 

Screening with: Shorts Program

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Amir Soleimani

Amir Soleimani is an innovator in the Iranian music video scene.  His beginnings were not too long ago, when he appeared on television in 1987 and then later in movies.  In 1990, he became a First-Director’s Assistant and Planner in the Iranian Film industry, working on Shabe Roobah (Night of The Fox), in 1996 and Ashoobgaran (Anarchists) in 1998. His love for “moving pictures,” capturing images that will last through the generations and his passion for graphics and computer technology, was quickly recognized by the leaders in the Iranian movie industry.   Soleimani has had the opportunity to work with well-known Iranian directors such as Mohamad Reza Alami, Homayoon Asadian, and Asghar Hashemi.   He has also directed several music videos for some of the greatest artists/performers, such as Faramarz Aslani, Moein, Babak Amini, Shadmehr Aghili, and others.  Amir Soleimani moved to Canada, in 1998, and studied digital video editing in International Academy of Design, and was hired by GPI Corporation as a senior editor soon thereafter.  Today, he is an independent film and video director, creating music videos for the Iranian and Canadian communities.