Career
Internationally award-winning filmmaker Bahman Tavoosi, made his first feature documentary A Dress Rehearsal for an Execution in 2013. The film reenacts the photo of " firing squad in Iran". Taken by Jahangir Razmi who hid his identity for 26 years, the photo portraits execution of political prisoners in post-revolution Iran.
The story of the photo alone would make a fascinating documentary, but director and visual artist Bahman Tavoosi’s film is much more than a historical retelling of facts.
Tavoosi records his process of restaging the photograph and meticulously seeks out a suitable location and cast. The source material becomes a muse, and a dramatic history is exposed and developed like a negative.
A Dress Rehearsal for an Execution played at numerous festivals, including Hot Docs and Hot Springs and was one of the most discussed documentaries in 2014.