BUY TICKETS Saturday, 29 November – 12.30pm – The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA
BUY TICKETS Saturday, 13 December – 7.30pm – The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
“A wistfully poetic exchange between close friends that successfully straddles the tricky line between private communication and public consumption.” – The Hollywood Reporter
On the face of it, there isn’t much to link filmmakers Mark Cousins and Mania Akbari. One is a prolific Irish film critic and documentarian with a line in ambitious meta-filmic projects, such as his 15-hour documentary The Story of Film. The other is an acclaimed Iranian actress (many will remember her in Abbas Kiarostami’s Ten), photographer and director, who was forced to flee Tehran for London midway through making her last project. Yet the two have discovered resonances in one another that run deeper than mere questions of film.
Life May Be sees Cousins and Akbari exchange a series of cinematic “letters”, each a testament not only to their own artistry, to larger topics of cultural issues, gender politics and differing artistic sensibilities, but also to their vast mutual respect for one another. By turns confessional, whimsical and astutely observed, this is an intriguing front-row seat to watch two filmmakers at play with their craft.
As Life May Be continues to screen around the world, Mark and Mania have begun to receive video responses to the film from those who have seen it.
They are proud to have inspired people in such a way and encourage audience to engage cinematically with them. They ask you to film your responses, to upload them to Vimeo and to tweet the link along with the hashtag #myLifeMayBe and handle @HibrowTV.
The responses are collected in this album and, who knows, maybe Mark and Mania will respond to you? As the film goes on general release, they will select their favourite responses to be presented alongside the original work.
