Experiencing Interruptions?

Bibi Amir

A family gathers to remember a deceased matriarch. Despite a lack of material remnants to trace her life, the family recollect on their shared memories and ultimately reveal an unknowability of her quiet life.

  • Zelikha Shoja
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 22, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    Persian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Syracuse University
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Centrally Isolated Film Festival
    Ithaca, New York
    United States
    April 22, 2021
    Best Experimental Film
  • Roma Short Film Festival
    Rome
    Italy
    European Premiere
    Finalist
  • New York Tri-State International Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    Finalist
  • MENA Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    November 19, 2021
    Canadian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Acorazado Film Festival
    Caracas
    Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
    December 27, 2021
    South American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Everson Museum of Art
    Syracuse
    United States
  • The Palace — National Art Gallery
    Sofia
    Bulgaria
    European Premiere
  • The Living Gallery
    New York
    United States
  • The Goethe Institute
    Almaty
    Kazakhstan
    Asian Premiere
  • The Goethe Institute
    Tashkent
    Uzbekistan
  • Bactria Cultural Center
    Dushanbe
    Tajikistan
  • Cultural Center Kuduk
    Bishkek
    Kyrgyzstan
Director Biography - Zelikha Shoja

Zelikha Zohra Shoja is a U.S.-based Afghan artist, researcher, and gham-khoor* living/working on unceded Onondaga land (Syracuse, New York). Her artistic practice is engaged in geopoetics, personal and collective histories of rupture, and the transmission of memory. Through gestural studies, deep listening, and ephemeral fabric books, she explores how collective experiences can be transferred, mirrored, and felt by others. She holds a BIS in Diaspora Studies from George Mason University and an MFA in Art Video from Syracuse University.

Her films and art have participated in international and national microcinemas, film festivals, and arts institutions including Goethe-Institut (Almaty and Tashkent), Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna upcoming), Millennium Film Workshop (New York), National Art Gallery — The Palace (Sofia), New Wight Gallery (Los Angeles), silent green Kulturquartier (Berlin), VIFF Centre (Toronto), among others.

Most recently, Zelikha is a recipient of the 2024-25 Fulbright U.S. Student Award pursuing creative research in Central Asia and Türkiye.

*Persian phrase for "grief eater"

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