This Bitter Earth is an experimental stop-motion film centered around found footage and archival images from viral news stories juxtaposed with hand painted Super 8 family movie frames. The film encompasses four main image series reconsidered and revisited in multiple: the 2020 downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by the Iranian government; the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut, Lebanon in 2020; the last U.S. airplane leaving Afghanistan in 2021 after the military’s withdrawal; and home footage of a childhood birthday party in Iran. Imagery from Super 8 home videos serves as a foil to the political permutations of instability and insecurity. Punctuating the historical horrors around them, the birthday party Noroozi depicts in print and paper pulp becomes tinged with tension, as though the celebrants are anticipating a disruption to their joy. By blurring and distorting the home videos and news footage alike, Noroozi removes the individuality of her subjects to allow viewers to insert themselves and their own stories into the found images. She universalizes otherwise personal feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and despondence: a sense of sadness at the loss of life, despair at betrayal of principle, and the helplessness of losing control of one’s destiny ripple out globally
