07 Oct Arash Akhgari
October’s #MainArtist, Arash Akhgari, is a Montreal-based animator and visual artist whose work bridges abstraction with psychological and philosophical reflection. Winner of Main Film’s Grand Prix at the Asiate en court short film competition (Festival Accès Asie), Arash continues to expand the language of experimental animation and visual art. His contribution this month, Hanging Mirrors from the Self, is a painting and poem on identity, perception, and the fragile power of self-reflection.
Arash Akhgari (b. 1984) is an independent animator and visual artist based in Montreal. His work explores the expressive possibilities of visual language through moving image, painting, drawing, and collage. Rooted in the tradition of experimental and auteur animation, his films often merge abstraction with psychological and philosophical inquiry, delving into memory, perception, and the unconscious.
Arash’s practice bridges traditional hand-drawn and mixed-media techniques with contemporary digital approaches, creating a dialogue between tactile materiality and conceptual depth. His work has been shown in international festivals and exhibitions, earning recognition including the Best Canadian Animation Award at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (2024).
Beyond filmmaking, Arash continues to explore cross-disciplinary forms of storytelling that connect fine arts, philosophy, and cinema.
Filmography
- In the Shallows (2024)
- Woman, in collaboration with Gilnaz Arzpeyma (2023)
- The Other (2020)
- Flight of Monochrome Feathers (2019, student film)
- The Thing is Lost (2018, student film)
- Out of Touch (2018, student film)
- An Echoing Memory of a Tongue (2017, student film)
آیینه های آویزان از خود
به شکار قدرت خود را می آزماییم
با آیینه ها راه میرویم
میخندیم
حرف میزنیم
در آینه ها میلرزیم
و از شکست آن میترسیم
در خفای خود آیینه های چروک خورده را به چوب لباسی می آویزیم تا با سنگینی وزن خویش خشک شوند
وای بر آن ثانیه که “خود” نیز دروغ ها را درخلوت “خویش” به باورها پیوند زند
به چه هم سانی با وسواس “قاب” هر “لحظه” انتخاب میشود
و به چه سان دیگر با تردید خاک از آن “قاب” زداده
❝Hanging Mirrors from the Self
We challenge the self in the hunt for power.
And in the mirrors hanging from ourselves, we seek the reflection of others’ shadows.
We walk with the mirrors.
Laugh.
Speak.
Tremble within.
And fear their shattering.
In our hidden selves, we hang the wrinkled mirrors on a hanger,
So that, with the heaviness of their own weight, they may dry.
Woe to the moment when the “SELF” binds its lies to belief, in its solitude.
How obsessively each “FRAME” selects its own “INSTANT.”
And how again, hesitantly, the dust is wiped from that “FRAME.” ❞
Arash Akhgari
#MAINARTIST
Our organization is an artist-run center committed to supporting its community as a whole, without distinction.
Beyond the simple declarations of solidarity against racism following the events of the summer of 2020, but also against more recent racist acts and those that persist historically, it seemed essential to us to offer a place to our members so that they can express their feelings in the face of the discrimination they experience and which could be based on the color of their skin, their origins, their sexual orientation, their gender or a handicap.
We invite them to share their thoughts on this societal drama that constitutes all forms of rejection of the other.
Main Film is an artist-run center committed to supporting its community as a whole, without distinction, in the creation of independent film.
Our 36th contributing artist is Arash Akhgari.
#MainArtist #ArtisteImportant
Because it is artists who carry both the role of representing society and making it evolve.