Agora Films

Iran / Norway / Italy | 2025 | 76′ | Color

Awards:

Best Film Award Envision Competition – IDFA 2025

Festivals:

IDFA 2025 (Envision Competition)
Giornate degli Autori 2025 (Competition)

About the film:

Maryam fled Iran decades ago and settled in the United States. Her parents remained in Tehran. Now that they are growing older and political unrest is intensifying, she is concerned. She persuades them to install security cameras in every room, so she can stay in direct contact with them from a distance. Maryam finds herself glued to this virtual connection, only now realizing how lonely they must have been all these years. Footage from these cameras inside Maryam’s childhood home forms the basis of this moving, tender, and philosophical film by Firouzeh Khosrovani and Morteza Ahmadvand, respectively director and art director of Radiograph of a Family (2020). The security footage shows the parents shuffling slowly but routinely through their rooms. Over this silent montage, at times intercut with home videos from her childhood, Maryam reflects on half a lifetime without her parents, on growing up in Tehran, and on why she can never return. Stylized images of birds seem to symbolize both a lack of freedom and courageous attempts to break free.

Director’s Statement:

“Past Future Continuous is inspired by the personal experiences of friends and family who left Iran seeking new lives abroad. Nearly every Iranian remaining in the country has considered leaving at some point, while some Iranians who have emigrated have longed to return. Past Future Continuous shifts focus from the act of leaving to the homes and land left behind – places that grow emptier over time. It reflects on the quiet loss of connection, the fading warmth of these spaces, and the enduring love that survives despite distance.” (Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani)

About the directors:

Morteza Ahmadvand is a Tehran-based multimedia artist and filmmaker, born in Khorramabad, Iran. He holds a Master’s degree in painting from the University of Tehran. Trained in painting and sculpture, his early practice evolved into video and installation art, where traces of his painterly roots remain visible. Over the past decade, his work has explored the intersection of visual art and cinema, addressing themes such as identity, memory, and cultural coexistence. His video installation Flight is part of the permanent collection at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. His video installation Becoming was presented at the 2019 Venice Biennale as part of the group exhibition “The Spark Is You.” In 2020, he served as the artistic director of Radiograph of a Family.
Filmography:
2025: Past Future Continuous (doc)
2015: Becoming (short)
2012: Cube (short)
2011: Untitled (short)
2010: Life (short)
2009: Flight (short)

Firouzeh Khosrovani, born in Tehran, graduated from Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 2002. Back in Iran, she earned a Master’s in journalism and wrote for various Italian newspapers and magazines. Her filmmaking journey began in 2004 with the short Life Train. In 2007, she directed Rough Cut, a documentary about mutilated mannequins in Tehran’s shop windows, which won thirteen international awards. Her 2008 video installation Cutting Off was exhibited at the Triennale di Milano. In 2010, she created A Thousand and One Irans, a documentary exploring perceptions of Iran abroad. She contributed to international collective films, including Espelho Meu (2011) and Archivio a Oriente (2012), produced by Asiatica Film Mediale and Istituto Luce. In 2014, she directed an episode for the Iranian collective film Profession: Documentarist. That same year, her documentary Fest of Duty explored a religious ceremony introducing nine-year-old girls to Islamic beliefs. Her acclaimed Radiograph of a Family (2020) won various awards, including two at IDFA. In 2022, she became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Filmography:
2025: Past Future Continuous (doc)
2020: Radiograph of a Family (doc)
2014: Fest of Duty (medium-length)
2014: Profession: Documentarist (collective film)
2012: Archivio a Oriente (medium-length, collective film)
2011: Espelho Meu (medium-length, collective film)
2010: A Thousand and One Irans (medium-length)
2007: Rough Cut (short)
2004: Life Train (short)

Press Quotes:

– IDFA Envision winner is poignant, formally daring family portrait. Screen Daily
– Past Future Continuous is also shaped by the horrors of man. Slant
– Ultimately, the film becomes a quiet elegy for the things we lose when we leave home — not just people and places, but time itself. FilmInk
– Ahmadvand and Khosrovani have composed a visual memoir rooted in national identity, as shaped by the revolution, the ensuing eight-year war, and the passage of time since. The Peoples Review
– IDFA 2025 Q&A: Filmmakers Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani on ‘Past Future Continuous’. 1take
– Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani find an original and poetic way to reflect with intensity upon exile. Cineuropa