Film

May I Take Your Picture? is part of a series of collaborative works by Dr. Zaheri and filmmaker and choreographer Rebecca Salzer created in response to the global crisis of forcibly displaced people. In May, 2016, Salzer and Zaheri traveled to Greece, where they visited the unofficial refugee camp at Idomeni. 12,000-15,000 refugees were trapped on the border of Macedonia, where they had been stopped on their intended journey into northern Europe. Three days after this footage was recorded, riots broke out in the unofficial refugee camp, and police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Ten days after this footage was recorded, police evacuated and bulldozed the camp, relocating fewer than half of its residents to official government camps. The other residents of this temporary camp fled into the neighboring fields to evade government detention. May I Take Your Picture documents one moment, one place, and a particular chapter in the plight of refugees in Greece that has now passed. The response as artists is impressionistic. The collaborative pair hopes it adds texture and dimension to the audience's understanding of this ongoing human crisis. The film was chosen for showing at the 2017 Experimental Film Forum, in Los Angeles, California. That same year, the film was selected for showing at the Sound Thought International Festival of Music and Sound Research, Composition, and Performance. This event took place in Glasgow, Scotland. In early 2019, May I Take Your Picture? was named “Official Selection” at the Blowup Film Fest of the Chicago Arthouse International Film Festival. (HD video/very large file: may load quite slowly.)