rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Fifi Howls From Happiness
  name:
    name part: Farahani, Mitra
    name part: 1975-
    role:
      role term: film director.
  name:
    name part: Kanopy (Firm)
  type of resource: moving image
  genre: videorecording
  genre: Internet videos.
  genre: Nonfiction films.
  genre: Documentary films.
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: cau
    date issued: 2015
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: per
  physical description:
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource (1 video file, approximately 102 min.) : digital, .flv file, sound
  abstract: Mitra Farahani’s lyrical documentary explores the enigma of provocative artist Bahman Mohassess, the so-called “Persian Picasso,” whose acclaimed paintings and sculptures dominated pre-revolutionary Iran. Irreverent and uncompromising, a gay man in a hostile world, Mohassess had a conflicted relationship with his homeland—revered by elites in the art scene and praised as a national icon, only to be censored later by an oppressive regime. Known for his iconoclastic art as well as his scathing declarations, Mohasses abandoned the country over 30 years ago for a simple, secluded life in Italy. While the new Iranian government destroyed many of his works, Mohassess himself obliterated even more-- in rage at man’s inhumanity to man, environmental destruction, and the futility of idealism. Ranging from tender to playful to haunting to grotesque, these unforgettable pieces were as mercurial as the man himself, a chain-smoking recluse with the mouth of a sailor and the soul of a poet, touched by a mischievous spark and as likely to lapse into a political rant as a burst of eccentric laughter. Determined to interview Mohassess, fine artist/filmmaker Farahani discovers him living alone in a hotel room in Rome and begins to craft the perfect final biography, in his own words and on his terms. Along the way, the inimitable spirit of the man behind the image is laid bare—both painfully sensitive and crudely comical, “condemned to paint,” but unable to compel himself to leave anything behind as a legacy. When a pair of artist brothers and ardent fans of Mohassess commission him for an ambitious project, the elderly man is inspired with a renewed sense of purpose and returns to painting after decades of dormancy. A lasting tribute to an elusive artistic genius, Fifi Howls from Happiness affirms the power of creative freedom, the right of the artist to create and to destroy, and above all, to have no regrets.
  note: Title from title frames.
  note: Originally produced by Music Box Films in 2013.
  note: Mode of access: World Wide Web.
  subject:
    geographic code: e-fr---
  subject:
    name:
      name part: Mohassess, Bahman
      name part: 1931-2010
  subject:
    topic: Artists
    topic: Sculptures
    topic: Painters
    geographic: Iran
  subject:
    topic: Gay men
    geographic: Iran
  identifier: 1140205 Kanopy
  identifier: http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login
  record info:
    record content source: UtOrBLW
    record creation date: 150429
    record change date: 20260324182012.6
    record identifier: in00003586412
    language of cataloging:
      language term: eng