NIKI KOHANDEL

(b. 2000, Paris) 
is an artist and filmmaker, in her third year of undergraduate studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL.

She is interested in filming mothers and daughters, houses and flowers, and all sorts of things which, like a relationship, can be nurtured, but also grow out of control. Through the use of both analogue and digital photography and filmmaking, the spoken and written word, she aims to create visual poems that also act as socio-political narratives, conjuring family ghosts, one bedtime story at a time.

Niki's work has been shown as part of group screenings with Habibi Collective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and LUX Moving Image in collaboration with Central Saint-Martins, London.


For vimeo screeners, inquiries or collaboration please email
For Shahr-e-Farang,
please email shahrefarang.project@gmail.com

︎
NIKI KOHANDEL 

(b. 2000, Paris)
is an artist and filmmaker, in her third year of undergraduate studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL.

Niki is interested in filming mothers and daughters, houses and flowers, and all sorts of things which, like a relationship, can be nurtured, but also grow out of control. Through the use of both analogue and digital photography and filmmaking, the spoken and written word, she aims to create visual poems that also act as socio-political narratives, conjuring family ghosts, one bedtime story at the time.

Niki's work has been shown as part of group screenings with Habibi Collective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and LUX Moving Image in collaboration with Central Saint-Martins, London.


The Sparrow is Free
2021, 14’ - Hi8 film

Through a window into the life of the filmmaker's grandmother, Kohandel's short interview-film explores gender roles in early 20th-century Iran. As a young girl, marriage to her older cousin leads to years of control and frustration. Rebelling against her husband, she eventually relocates to France with her sons, building a new life. As she voices her own story, the film weaves her experiences together into a broader narrative of self-determination. She carves out her independence in Paris and finds comfort in the everyday. A simple kind of happiness follows, the sparrow is free.

از مصاحبه فیلمساز نیکی کهندل با مادربزرگ خود، شرایط زنان ایرانی در اوائل قرن بیستم را میتوان لمس کرد. در هفده سالگی ، این دختر نوجوان مجبور به ازدواج با پسر عمه خود می‌شود. همسری که سالیان سال او را زیر سلطه خود قرار میدهد و سرانجام ، این پیوند را به ناکامی و طلاق می کشاند. در نهایت ، برای فرار از این موقعیت و به امید ساختن زندگی جدید ، به همراه دو فرزندش ، تصمیم مهاجرت به فرانسه را می‌گیرد. با شنیدن داستانهای گوناگونش ، پی می بریم که چگونه می‌توان با تصمیم و انتخابی تازه ، فصلی جدید در زندگی خود را آغاز کنیم. در پاریس ، آن .خوشبختی ساده ای که همواره در جستجویش بود را پیدا می کنند. گنجشک آزاد است




Upcoming: 21st Jan 2022, London Short Film Festival, ICA. 
‘New Shorts Documentary: The Promise of Hapiness?’ curated by Miranda Mungai. 

Past screenings:
18th Nov 2021, Girls in Film at House of Vans, London ‘It’s the family you choose’,
curated by Raheela Suleman
5th Oct 2021, Conch art collective presents ‘3 films by Niki Kohandel’ at SOAS University, London
Jul 2021, streaming on shashamovies, ‘CLOSE CUTS: 23 films around local cultural traditions’