The Fabulous Life and Thought of Ahmad Fardid (2015) – Hamed Yousefi in Conversation

At the center of this engrossing documentary history is Ahmad Fardid, a 20th-century Iranian philosopher who rejected “Westoxification,” or the pernicious effect of Western culture on Iranian society. Directors Hamed Yousefi and Ali Mirsepassi navigate his inscrutable, yet highly influential theories (which reflect the dual influence of Martin Heidegger and political Islam) using scholarly interviews and astonishing archival footage. Whether praised as an intellectual leader or condemned as a charlatan, Fardid’s peculiar example tests the limits of Modernism’s claims to universality. In English and Farsi with English subtitles.

Hamed Yousefi (Co-director and Northwestern University doctoral candidate in Art History), Hannah Feldman (Northwestern Associate Professor of Art History), and W.J.T Mitchell (Professor of English and Art History at University of Chicago and editor of Critical Inquiry) will take part in a post-screening discussion moderated by Danny Postel (Associate Director of International and Area Studies at Northwestern.)

Co-presented by Block Cinema with the Iranian-American Fund for Cultural Programming, the Critical Theory Program, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Art History, and the Middle East & North African Studies Program at Northwestern.

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Image: Still from The Fabulous Life and Thought of Ahmad Fardid, 2015.