Biroun/Daroun
1 h 48 min | 2026 | Iran
Camera, Editor, Sound design, Writer, Director: Maani Petgar
Producers: Saman Bayat, Farshid Ghavanini
Associate Producer: Alenoush Babayan
Music: Klaus Schulz, Stephan Micus, Ballgard, JJ Cale, Chronomad, Kronos Quartet, Lucy Zeng
Graphic: Fatemeh Akbari Mehr
Synopsis
For seven years, the director follows the life of Ceci, a stray cat that gradually settles into his home without ever completely leaving the world of the streets.
Their ever-changing relationship forms the backbone of this time-lapse narrative, into which other cats and fragments of the director's life are woven: unfinished film projects, relationships with neighbours, his deteriorating health, and events unfolding in the city and across the country.
Dialogue is almost entirely absent, and the director's personal memories and reflections appear only in the captions, alongside information about the cats and the history of their coexistence with humans. The film thus consistently shifts the focus from humans to its non-human protagonists, viewing everyday life primarily through their eyes.
Detailed observations of Ceci and other stray cats alternate with melancholic views of the city, capturing their own relationships, habits and methods of survival.
This intimate chronicle of an unusual friendship simultaneously records the passage of time and the transformations of a human life, which becomes ever more closely intertwined with that of the cat.
“The presence of the cat is central, but not as a character in a narrative sense. Rather, she becomes a point of departure, a way to move away from a human-centred perspective, without replacing it with another fixed position.” — Maani Petgar
From Ji-hlava IDFF catalogue
Director's Note
This film began with an act of attention: observing a cat that begins to live within a space shared with a human.
Her movements, pauses, repetitions, and habits at first seem to belong to her own world, yet the longer I observed them, the more they appeared aligned with the same world and logic, which organizes human experience.
Outside / Inside is a film about the threshold, where two ways of inhabiting the same world, quietly begin to overlap.
Festival screenings
- World Premiere, Opus Bonum (main competition) Ji-hlava IDFF 2026
First of all, I'd like to apologize for not being able to be here with you, for reasons beyond my control.
But from my previous experiences at documentary festivals with my films, I've come to realize what interesting people documentary enthusiasts are.
You're curious. You question things. You care about improving the human condition. You're concerned about the world around you… In a way, you're idealists.
And yet, out of 350 documentaries, many of them dealing with the enormous problems we humans face in our lives, you've chosen to watch a film about a non-human being. So, in this particular case, I'm even more curious to know who you are.
Bergman once said that, for him, the human face was the most important subject in cinema. For me, the human face is the most important means of communication, not only in cinema, but in life itself.
But since I can't be there face to face with you, and since there won't be a Q&A after the screening, I won't get the chance to hear… or in a way, to see your points of view — either on documentary cinema or on the film you're about to see.
So… and I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, but I wanted to ask you: if you feel like it, please visit my website and let me know what you think on a couple of things: Why does documentary cinema matter to you?
And, of course, if you have any thoughts or comments about this film, I'd be very grateful to hear them, too.
Thank you.