11. A Revolution on Canvas
It’s easy to talk about art being “outrageous” or “radical”, but in the case of Nikzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi, those terms actually mean something. When Nodjoumi’s paintings were exhibited in a museum in Tehran in 1980, they were seen as being critical of the new regime, and he had to leave the country for his own safety. Now his daughter, Sara Nodjoumi, and her husband, Till Schauder, have made an intimate documentary about his career in Iran and New York, and about his choice to prioritise art and activism over family life. Their film is also a kind of heist thriller, as surreptitious attempts are made to reclaim stacks of his “treasonous” paintings from Tehran. “A Revolution on Canvas is a smart intersection of the political, personal, and artistic,” says Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com, “revealing how all three can be intertwined in a way that makes them impossible to extricate.”
Released on 5 March on HBO and Max
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