The Culture Commission of the Jagiellonian University’s PhD Student Association invites you to the next edition of the Doctoral Students Film Club, which will be held on Thursday March 2nd at 6:15 PM in the White Room of the Cinema Under the Rams. This time, we will watch Ali Abbasi's Holy Spider (Germany/Denmark/France/Sweden, 2022; in Farsi with Polish subtitles).

The film's description comes from the distributor.
 

A fact-based thriller in the spirit of David Fincher’s films, Holy Spider is an uncompromising image of contemporary Iran. Directed by Ali Abbasi, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated Border, exposes the violence of an oppressive, patriarchal system. It perfectly explains the source of the wrath of the Iranian men and women today. 

 

Although the film’s plot takes place in Iran, this dark thriller openly refers to great American classics like Scorsese’s Taxi Driver or Fincher’s Zodiac. Somber and thick like a muggy urban night, Abassi’s film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where Zar Amir Ebrahimi received the award for Best Actress. 

 

Holy Spider is a masterful true crime film about a woman who seeks the truth at risk to her life, posing a challenge to the patriarchal system. Ebrahimi plays a journalist tracking a serial killer of prostitutes in the holy Iranian city of Mashhad (these crimes did indeed occur, and sixteen women were killed). Religious leaders, the police, and media make no effort to mask their silent admiration for the fanatic who “cleanses” the streets of sin and decadence. Thus, the protagonist is up against not only the killer but also predators in uniforms and who occupy high offices for whom the lives of women, including her own, are without any value. The world of Holy Spider is like a sticky spider web directed against them. 

Admission is free for doctoral students at the Jagiellonian University, although the number of participants is limited. We ask all who are interested in attending the event to send an email to filip.mazurczak@doctoral.uj.edu.pl by noon on Thursday April 13th. The introduction to the film will begin at 6:15 PM sharp. Please arrive on time.