Niki Kohandel


(b. 2000, Paris) is an artist, filmmaker and facilitator based in London. She is a resident at the Arts and Media School of Islington, as part of Cubitt gallery’s Reclaim Islington programme. 

Working at the interplay between the analogue and the digital, she uses obsolete recording devices and her imperfect knowledge of languages to document stories and re-narrate her family's tales.

Since October 2021, together with Sanam Monteiro, Massi Safa and Omar Yaqobi, she has been working with Shahre Farang, facilitating both regular and one-off workshops in bridging hotels and community centers. The collective supports children and young people who have newly arrived in the UK through multi-disciplinary story-telling sessions. Shahre Farang workshops combine drawing, play, writing, drama and crafts to reflect on how emotions are expressed, remembered and communicated when stepping into a foreign city.

She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and was a student of Other Cinemas in 2022. Her films have been shown in group screenings and exhibitions, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Anthology Film Archives, ICA London and online through Another Screen. Her last shorts were included in programmes as part of the BFI London Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Istanbul Documentary Days, London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival amongst others.

نیکی کهندل متولد سال ۱۳۷۹ در پاریس است. او هنرمند و فیلمساز سال چهارم  دانشکده (Slade) اسلید  در لندن می باشد. با استفاده از دستگاه های فیلمبرداری قدیمی (دستگاه های آنالوگ) و زبانهای مختلفی که به آنها تسلط دارد، داستانهای خانوادگی اش را به تصویر می کشاند.


در مهر ماه سال ۱۴۰۰, به همراه صنم مونترو و مسیح صفا ، گروه شهر فرنگ را پایه گذاری کردند. گروه شهر فرنگ به کمک نقاشی ، داستان نویسی، تئاتر و بازیهای گروهی،

کودکانی که به تازگی وارد خاک انگلستان شده‌اند را همراهی می‌کند.


فیلمهای وی در سینماها و نمایشگاههای مختلف به روی پرده آمده، از جمله موزه هنر مدرن نیویورک (MoMA) و موزه اسباب بازی پولوکس (Pollock's) در لندن.

همچنین آخرین فیلمهای کوتاه مستندش در فستیوال‌های اوپن سیتی (Open City) , روزهای مستند استانبول ، فستیوال فیلم کوتاه لندن و فستیوال فیلم کوتاه استتیکا (Aesthetica) به نمایش در آمده اند.


For vimeo links and screening inquiries please email.

︎


NIKI KOHANDEL 

(b. 2000, Paris) is an artist, filmmaker and facilitator based in London. She is a resident at the Arts and Media School of Islington, as part of Cubitt gallery’s Reclaim Islington programme.

Working at the interplay between the analogue and the digital, she uses obsolete recording devices and her imperfect knowledge of languages to document stories and re-narrate her family's tales.

Since October 2021, together with Sanam Monteiro, Massi Safa and Omar Yaqobi, she has been working with Shahre Farang, facilitating both regular and one-off workshops in bridging hotels and community centers. The collective supports children and young people who have newly arrived in the UK through multi-disciplinary story-telling sessions. Shahre Farang workshops combine drawing, play, writing, drama and crafts to reflect on how emotions are expressed, remembered and communicated when stepping into a foreign city.

She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. Her films have been shown in group screenings and exhibitions, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Anthology Film Archives, ICA London and online through Another Screen. Her last shorts were included in programmes as part of the BFI London Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Istanbul Documentary Days, London Short Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival amongst others.


نیکی کهندل متولد سال ۱۳۷۹ در پاریس است. او هنرمند و فیلمساز سال چهارم  دانشکده (Slade) اسلید  در لندن می باشد. با استفاده از دستگاه های فیلمبرداری قدیمی (دستگاه های آنالوگ) و زبانهای مختلفی که به آنها تسلط دارد، داستانهای خانوادگی اش را به تصویر می کشاند.


در مهر ماه سال ۱۴۰۰, به همراه صنم مونترو و مسیح صفا ، گروه شهر فرنگ را پایه گذاری کردند. گروه شهر فرنگ به کمک نقاشی ، داستان نویسی، تئاتر و بازیهای گروهی،

کودکانی که به تازگی وارد خاک انگلستان شده‌اند را همراهی می‌کند.


فیلمهای وی در سینماها و نمایشگاههای مختلف به روی پرده آمده، از جمله موزه هنر مدرن نیویورک (MoMA) و موزه اسباب بازی پولوکس (Pollock's) در لندن.

همچنین آخرین فیلمهای کوتاه مستندش در فستیوال‌های اوپن سیتی (Open City) , روزهای مستند استانبول ، فستیوال فیلم کوتاه لندن و فستیوال فیلم کوتاه استتیکا (Aesthetica) به نمایش در آمده اند.



For vimeo links and screening inquiries please email.
For Shahr-e-Farang
please email shahrefarang.project@gmail.com

︎


The Sparrow is Free
2021, 14’ - Hi8 film

In an empty house, a young woman hears a voice. The tales it evokes lead her to recreate scenes from her grandmother’s past life.  

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.


گنجشک آزاد است 

۱۴۰۱

۱۴' - Hi8


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





Past screenings:

2nd July 2024, Popup Emaus, Lisbon

3rd July 2024, ‘On Listening’, three short films by Niki Kohandel at Other Cinemas, Metroland Studios.

18th April 2024, Migrant Voices in Contemporary European Cinema, University of Kent.

11th-25th January 2024, ’Interiors’ by EastEast Films, online.

7th December 2023, ‘Cinema Farhangian’,
Kulturbunker Köln-Mülheim.

12th November 2023, ‘Artists for Woman, Life, Freedom’ curated by Farah Dailami, Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield. 

14th & 23 May + 21st June 2023, Sinematek Istanbul.

5th June 2023, ‘Films From Iran, For Iran’, Vienna Shorts 2023, METRO Kino, Vienna.

25th May 2023, ‘Tracing Entanglements’ + Q&A with Isral Al-Kassi - Festival of the Moving Image, 
curated by Tape Collective, Bloomsbury Theatre, UCL, London.

Flying Broom Festival, 2023, Ankara.

18th-23rd April, Porto Femme International Film Festival, Porto.

18th, 19th & 21st April, ‘From Anywhere’, curated by Maryam Tafakory, 35th International Short Film Festival Dresden.

21st March 2023, Just Another Year: Persian New Year, The Nordic House Reykjavik. 

9th March 2023, How Dare You Have Such a Rubish Wish + The Sparrow is Free, Barbican Cinema, London

3rd-5th March 2023, From Rosa to Simone Film Festival, Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, Tbilissi. 

3+5th February 2023, Films from Iran for Iran: Intergenerational Transmissions, Anthology Film Archives, New York.

28th January 2023, Maryam Tafakory: Rememberings, London Short Film Festival, ICA London.

14th December 2022, ‘Films from Iran for Iran’ + Q&A with Katayoun Jalilipour & Elhum Shakerifar, programmed by Another Gaze, ICA London.

4th December- January 2023, ‘Films from Iran for Iran’, Another Screen/Another Gaze.
Programme reviewed in:

- Libération - «Films From Iran for Iran», flammes vies et libertés’ by Sandra Onana

-5Harfliler - “İran İçin İran’dan Filmler” Seçkisinden Feminist/Kuir Birkaç Kuple by Lara Özlen
15th November 2022, ‘Only the Voice Remains’, curated by Parwana Haydar, screening with Neelofar Abrahimi’s I Remember, SOAS University.

17th November 2022, Film Diary NYC ‘Almost There’, Millenium Film Workshop.

26th November 2022, ‘Migration and Femininity’, London Migration Film Festival, The Ritzy Cinema.

July 2022, on-demand, Cryptofiction.

29th - 30th June 2022, DOCUMENTARIST İstanbul Belgesel Günleri- Istanbul Doc Days, Institut Français.

18th - 30 th June 2022, GODSPEED: 18 short films by a new generation of diary filmmakersA gallery group show in collaboration with Millennium Film Workshop, curated by Nick Ramsay and Saint Piñero.

22nd Jan 2022, Root/25 Micro-film screening for Restless Beings.

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

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’