Maziyar Moshtagh Gohari, Cechanok, 2014. All rights reserved.Maziyar Moshtagh Gohari's Cechanok takes us on a fascinating journey into the world of falconry, as silent observers of the process of catching, training, and competing with a falcon. In a series of discrete steps, punctuated by simple chapter headings and lines of poetry, it takes us from the “sunny port” in Iran where the falcon is hunted, to the tournament in Abu Dhabi where it hunts to win its new owner a coveted prize – a golden effigy of itself.
There is no narration, and no subtitles for the infrequent dialogue in Farsi and Arabic. The soundscape is instead made up of occasional music, the screeches of falcons and other animals, and the wind. The emphasis is on what we see – fitting in a way, because the falcon itself does not understand what is being said about it, as it is hunted, measured, hooded, sold.
But the documentary is not really from the bird’s point of view, or from that of anyone involved. We are outsiders, seeing all of it, and not told what to think.
