The predator

Tabrizian, M. and Williams, C. 2006. The predator.

CreatorsTabrizian, M. and Williams, C.
Description

Director and co-writer of 28 minute film shot on S16mm with 35mm print, based on Tabrizian’s original idea. ‘The Predator’ combines popular and experimental visual vocabularies to explore the dilemma of an Islamic soldier doubting his

convictions. It poses the philosophical question: is it more difficult to die for an ideal, or to live without one?

‘The Predator’ considers the current political and media hype about Islamic fundamentalists, their suicidal missions and the

cultural construction of Islam as barbaric. It portrays an enigmatic character, a man with no expectations or ideals, serving an

idealist Islamic system. It is loosely based on the assassination of two Iranian writers in Hyde Park (1996).

The film creates a fictional Islamic country. The actual cast come from different Islamic countries: Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon

and Morocco. The intention here is to indicate how metaphorically, fundamentalism has created its own ‘state’, with English

paradoxically as the only common language. The use of English language is an ironic commentary on this reality and on the

notion of ‘authenticity’, challenging the widely accepted belief that a film or a nation cannot be ‘authentic’ unless they express

themselves in their original language.

Women are absent from the film; a device used as a metaphor for the position of women in Islamic fundamentalism. Yet it is a

woman’s photograph which keeps troubling the hit man, and it is a woman’s voice which disrupts the deadly silence at the

crucial moment in the story.

The film highlights a process of experimentation with still and moving image in the work of Tabrizian, drawing on recurring

themes of identities, nation, and transnationalism. It has generated interest across film and art /photographic circles, and its

screenings are ongoing in film festivals. AHRC Innovation Awards £51,000.

Year2006

Related outputs

off screen
Tabrizian, M. 2019. off screen . Kerber.

The Insider - video art
Tabrizian, M. 2018. The Insider - video art . UK & USA

Gholam- British/Iranian feature film
Tabrizian, M. 2018. Gholam- British/Iranian feature film. UK & Internationally

‘You don’t know what nights are like?’ – public art project
Tabrizian, M. 2016. ‘You don’t know what nights are like?’ – public art project.

'Looking back' - on the young unemployed
Tabrizian, M. 2015. 'Looking back' - on the young unemployed. Venice Biennial 09 May - 22 Nov 2015

Tehran project
Tabrizian, M. 2013. Tehran project. Fondazione Fotografia, Modena, Italy 20 Apr - 23 Jun 2013

Another country, 2010
Tabrizian, M. 2013. Another country, 2010. Fondazione Fotografia, Modena, Italy 20 Apr - 23 Jun 2013

Leicestershire
Tabrizian, M. 2012. Leicestershire.

Untitled 2009
Tabrizian, M. 2011. Untitled 2009. National Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia 18 Dec 2010 - 26 Apr 2011

City, London
Tabrizian, M. 2009. City, London. Albion Gallery, London 22 Jan - 28 Feb 2009

This is that place
Tabrizian, M. 2008. This is that place. London Tate Publishing.

'Border' and 'Tehran' 2006
Tabrizian, M., Golding, A. and Nava, Z. 2006. 'Border' and 'Tehran' 2006.

The perfect crime
Tabrizian, M. and Golding, A. 2004. The perfect crime. Elcano, Bilbao, Spain 19 May - 22 Jun 2004

Beyond the limits: silent majority
Tabrizian, M. 2004. Beyond the limits: silent majority.

Beyond the limits
Tabrizian, M. 2004. Beyond the limits. London, UK Thames & Hudson.

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