Houchang Allahyari
was born in Iran. He went to Austria as a young teenager where he developed his early fascination for film and theatre. Another interest in psychiatry led him to medical studies. He has his own doctor‘s practice and worked as a psychiatrist for prisioners until recently. Since 1970 he directed numerous short and feature fiction films.
Filmography (Selection)
2013 Der letzte Tanz
2012 Das persische Krokodil
2010 Die verrückte Welt der Ute Bock
2009 Bock for President
2006 Rumi - Poesie des Islam
2002 Rocco
1999 Geboren in Absurdistan
1994 Höhenangst
A breakfast with Mum, a last cigarette in freedom. When the doorbell rings, for Karl a new chapter of justification for a supposed criminal offence begins, which does not become revealed for the time being. He is suffocated by police repression, and the verdict seems already pronounced before the trial. Cut. The Last Dance goes back into the near past. Karl is not yet pre-convicted but a civilian servant in the geriatric department of a hospital. Here day-to-day life is also shaped by hierarchies, but Karl can arrange with this pecking order. While in private he starts a liaison with his school love, in work he develops a deep relationship with an aged Alzheimer patient (Erni Mangold), who awakes to a new youth through his empathic care ...
Houchang Allahyari’s gentle and never exposing boundary-challenging drama can count on an enchanting lead actress. Erni Mangold takes away everything objectionable from a seemingly disturbing event and opens our view for a love which there is no place for in our society.
Q&A with director Houchan Allahyari after the film.