Documentarian Mahsa Karampour left Iran for France. Her younger brother, Siavash, stayed in Tehran and became a punk-rocker, playing on the rooftops and holding secret gigs in his own form of rock ‘n’ roll resistance. Years after Siavash is exiled to New York, and after drifting apart, Mahsa seeks to reconnect with her sibling through his imaginary characters, backgammon, road-tripping American highways and documenting her feelings for him in Persian via monologue from the other side of the camera. Deeply introspective and thoughtful, Into the Jaws of the Ogre is not just a portrait of the many sides of Siavash and the tragic event that colours his existence in New York City but an autobiographical detailing of Mahsa’s own hopes and regrets. “Through our confrontation, a larger experience emerges: that of a diaspora moving between two shores, seeking ways to reinvent itself without losing itself.” Mahsa Karampour