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Documentary short

The House Is Black

Year
1962
Length
22 minIFFR 1998 presentation Version sources ↓

Poetry, daily routine, and direct observation meet inside an Iranian leper colony.

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Country
Iran
Language
Persian
BleakBeautifulGentle Great first watch · Moderate Documentary short
The House Is Black — A white flower and a child's slate sit in a stark black-and-ivory classroom.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Forugh Farrokhzad refuses both clinical distance and sentimental reassurance. The short film’s ethical force comes from seeing people living, learning, caring, and looking back at the camera while suffering remains present.

How to ease in

Stay with the shifts between spoken text and observed life. The narration does not translate every image; it creates a second current of lament, gratitude, and questioning.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Contains frank images of leprosy, medical treatment, disability, and social exclusion.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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I am struck by how often the film returns dignity to ordinary time: a lesson, a meal, a mirror, a child’s attention. Beauty here never asks suffering to disappear.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

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