A victory at the U-Art festival 2025!

This year's edition of the U-Art festival saw some incredible art pieces in various shapes through different media, from photography and film to music and drawings of all sorts. From the stiff competition emerged two victors, one of which is ILCF's very own Fatemeh Hassandoustarbokelayeh. Fatemeh's outstanding work in the realization of her short film "Tu vois tout sauf moi" earned her the first prize for best work in the hybrid artwork category.

Fatemeh, an Iranian student who has been in France and at the ILCF for 8 months, proved that her work transcends culture and language, and be connected with. Read below her interview and deep-dive into the ingenuity of the perception and inspiration of this artist.

• Can you tell me a little about your project presented at the U-art festival? What is it about?

My project was originally a 30-minute video, which I had already presented in Iran.
For the U-art festival, I adapted this project into a 5-minute version.
It's a video I filmed myself, during a session where I was posing as a model for a painting class.
From second 0 to minute 2, each second shows a single pixel of the body changing, illustrating the micro personality changes we experience - often invisible to others.
From the second minute onwards, the number of pixels gradually increases. This symbolizes the fact that when we begin a process of transformation, it is often slow and hesitant at first, but then becomes more visible and assertive.
To the observer, these sudden changes may seem like deterioration, contrasting with the image he or she had of us. Yet the final image is much closer to my true self.

• What was the inspiration behind it?

The project was born of my personal experience.
In life, change is necessary in order to evolve, but this process can lead to loss for some people who prefer to remain attached to a fixed image of ourselves.
In his book L'Être et le Néant, Jean-Paul Sartre develops the concept of the gaze of others as a mechanism limiting human existence.
As soon as we are looked at, we cease to be free subjects and become objects - images constructed by others.
The Tu vois tout sauf moi project highlights this tension: the person changes from within, but others continue to see an old version of him or her.
In this context, the external gaze becomes a kind of invisible prison that prevents recognition of the true self.
This discrepancy between the “lived self” and the “perceived self” ties in with an essential question posed by Sartre: are we what we become internally, or what others want us to remain?

• How long did it take you to film and edit the whole thing?

As I mentioned, the video was made from a session where I was posing as a model for a painting class. I then filmed for about two hours.
It was a very complex process. To make it, I was accompanied by several editors, and the final film is made up of 729 layers on Adobe After Effects.

• You won first prize at the U-art festival! How did you feel when you won?

I was surprised and honored to receive the award.I'd like to thank everyone who supported the project. It's motivating to see your work recognized.

• We're going to have another edition of the U-art festival next year, can we anticipate your participation, champion of the 2024-2025 edition?

Yes, it would be a pleasure.