Iranian filmmaker Mehdi Fard Ghaderi, a regular at key international film festivals who broke out with “Immortality,” his single-take 2016 debut, will film in Spain his fourth feature, sci-fi film title “Phase Space.”
In pre-production, the entirely Spanish-language film is scheduled to go into production by the end of September filming in Lanzarote, the easternmost of Spain’s Canary Islands.
“Phase Space” will be financed by Geneva-based company Comigo, headed by Iranian-Swiss producer Reza Fathollahipour who is credited with Iranian titles such as “Bitter Coffee,” “Mozaffar’s Treasure” and “The Man of a Thousand Faces.”
Like “Immortality,” “Phase Space” will be shot in a single take, with no hidden camera cuts.
The cast will be made up of Spanish actors and negotiations are currently underway with actors.
“We plan two months of rehearsals, followed by 10 days of shooting,” Ghaderi told Variety.
The film will turn on four women travelling to a mysterious island where a meteorite has recently fallen. Slowly everything begins to change for the people on the island, as the women discover new truths. “The sensory atmosphere of Spain is completely in line with the inner world of the characters and the story of the film,” Gadheri explained. “The Spanish language better shows the interactions of the characters and the style of speech of this language is very similar to the narrative of the film,” he added.
The “Phase Space” story unfolds in real time, captured in one continuous take. “This is both technically and emotionally challenging,” Gadheri argued. “The film combines a surreal visual language with a psychological narrative, creating a space that exists between reality and imagination,” he said.
Gadheri’s career as a feature film director also includes “Weightlessness” (2019) and “The Annoyed” (2023). His films have been screened at over 100 international film festivals, including Rome, Shanghai, Munich, Kerala and St. Louis, among others.
As a producer, he’s been behind Noushin Meraji’s 2021 drama “The Son,” selected at the Moscow, Rotterdam and Valladolid film festivals.
After shooting “Phase Space” in Spain and completing the post-production in France, “the plan is to prepare the film for the Cannes Film Festival,” Gadheri commented.
