And How Miserable Is the Home of Evil

During a chaotic night at an underground Tehran rave disrupted by the morality police and the sudden outbreak of war, a queer youth chooses to retreat into a bubble of romantic illusion with their partner, just to survive the brutal reality outside.

In 1778, a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was in exile in Paris: reeling from his mother’s death, he spent his days writing scatalogical music and drowning in libertine excess. In this genre-defying ‘audiovisual opera’, Mozart’s life becomes a portal into that of Wolfgang, an Iranian artist navigating similar extremes as he too is exiled in Paris: the city where everyone says his dreams will come true, and praises him for escaping the censorship of his homeland.

The Paléo Festival – with its history, enraptured crowds, protagonists from all walks of life and questions about the future – is the subject of a captivating documentary series by students of the HEAD and the ECAL. Their four capsules, including archival footage, bring the sounds of this essential Swiss institution to life.