On My Radar: Mohammad Gorjestani

What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently? 

The Coinbase Your Way Out spot, directed by Oscar Hudson. When I saw it I thought there was a ton of VFX, and then I realised how it was mostly all in-camera and practical — printed surfaces, printed masks and choreography to make them move like video game characters. I like experiencing things that remind us of what a grand delusion the moving image can be.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?

A travel-size massage gun that fits in my backpack. I’m retiring the foam roller, on-set thing. This feels a little bougie-lite and discrete. I like it. 

What product could you not live without?

Hmmm… it’s gotta be a tie between slippers and coasters. If either is missing from a home – or in my case, our Even/Odd offices – I get anxious. I also seem to have an uncanny radar for drinks sitting on tables without a coaster, and judge that pretty hard.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?

Truth be told I didn’t see a lot last year, but of what I did watch, it would be BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, by Kahlil Joseph. It’s a film that challenges form and therefore category — it’s deeply personal and yet expansive at the same time. A real feat of editing, and a unique kind of collaboration that pushes against the conventional idea of what a director does, which I find exciting.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Close-Up. So many films come to mind for this answer, but Kiarostami’s film bends your understanding of what cinema can even be. The more we deprogram our assumptions about form — short, long, fiction, documentary — the better, I think. The way Close-Up was conceived and executed makes it one of the most singular pieces of art that has ever existed.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

The mutha f’in GRAM. It’s where I keep in touch with my community and share work. Like any platform, it has its whiplash of good and bad — but for me, it’s tilted toward the good. 

What’s your favourite TV show? 

There’s an Iranian series called Vahshi — loosely translated as Savage — that’s incredible. Some of the best performances I’ve seen in a long time, and it’s just a lot of fun to watch. In some ways, it reminds me of the first time I saw The Wire, which remains my all-time GOAT.

What’s your favourite podcast? 

Depends what part of my brain is answering. I listen to the Middlebrow podcast for a cathartic, sharp critique of culture that mostly hits for me. The Joe Budden Podcast keeps me tapped in. And Team Deakins for the last couple of years has been a great place for real conversations about the craft of making films. 

What have you been most inspired by recently? 

The honourable people of Iran. They continue to live a full life despite being marginalised in every conceivable way — pressured by an unimaginable war on one side and a government that has failed them on the other. The ones I’m connected to there have shown me what the human spirit is actually made of. To see people continue to love their culture, their country, and still find ways to smile — it’s incredible.