Saved by the Edit

By Shahab Zargari

I was worried about the virus before most Americans. By late February I knew something terrible was brewing because while there was still some weeks before we would see a water bottle and toilet paper shortage, the citizens of Wuhan had been placed under a very strict curfew by military force. Every citizen of a city on lockdown...ok, things are getting bad. Humans can’t agree on politics or the science of climate change, there was no way the ruling classes could come together under a unifying cause to fake a global pandemic. I intended to take this threat very seriously, and that was when my nerves began to fray.

By March 17, Governor Sisolak announced all non-essential businesses to close. So, I went out onto the strip and filmed the beginning of the shutdown.

Like most everyone on the planet I couldn’t believe what was happening. Fear, confusion, and sadness arose in me, most of it fueled by the uncertainty of the coming weeks and months.

I took social distancing seriously and planned a trip out to the Kelso Sand Dunes shortly thereafter to shoot footage sans pesky hikers in the shot:

I planned and went through with this trip to the dunes during a time when my body began producing excruciating pain up and down my left hip and leg. Come to find out days later that I had stress-induced shingles and should not have gone hiking in Death Valley all alone with 50 pounds of gear. I guess you live and you learn, eh? A quick Teledoc call and some prescriptions, ice packs, and rest and I was over shingles in less than two weeks. The pandemic continued to get worse.

The worse things became, the more projects I took up to stay sane.

Put together a film festival that took place inside Microsoft’s VR Event space.
Partnered with my daughters to help recreate a scene from Back to the Future 2 for a quarantine project where the only rule was that if you were chosen to recreate a moment from the film, you were only allowed to use what you had at home during quarantine.
Facilitated a Black Lives Matter (BLM) virtual townhall in June, shortly after the murder of George Floyd and began work on a 26-track fundraiser album for the same cause, which was released on August 4.
Experimented with projection mapping using my wife as the subject.
Created visual poetry using copyright-free Charlie Chaplin footage.

My favorite project during this time, however, was a mashup I created from a mountain of classic Hollywood dance numbers that I paired with an early 2000s song from a Swedish band named Randy. I whipped this together, just like all of the previous videos . . . to keep my sanity in check. But also as a way to pay tribute to the performers and their families, Las Vegas and beyond, who all immediately lost their source of income as soon as everything shut down.

When the department of art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, (UNLV) put out a call for art at the very beginning of the lockdown, and offered up the prompt “remix,” I immediately submitted this video. In the end the curators chose it as one of two videos included in the online exhibition, and they ended up awarding the project a certificate for the Remix category. I was equally surprised with both announcements and am very happy that the video touched others in a deeply personal way despite being drawn from decades-old footage.

All in all, I’ve remained busy making my friends feel lazy. But that was the case before the pandemic, so perhaps nothing has changed. I kid, everything is different.

Aside from my work in communications for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (the efforts of which ramped up during quarantine, as the digital realm became more important with everyone stuck at home), I am currently in pre-production for my next short film project. A coming of age tale with a bit of a science-fiction element. My films tend to gravitate toward the science-fiction genre, as I feel it allows me to analyze modern-day social issues through a unique lens. I feel that if I can get viewers to think critically about such issues, I might be a part of those who inspire the next generation to fight to make the world a better place.

Generally, I spend approximately a year producing each of my short films. This is largely due to budgetary constraints and the need to do things on my own time.

Save one very brief cameo, the entire cast of this new film (as well as the screenwriter and musical score composer), are female. We’ve had several postponed shoot dates with the fragility of safety during this time, but I have my sights set on finishing this film pandemic or not.

As far as the pandemic goes, I do believe that there is a hideous virus out there. Yes, because I believe the science, but also because I know a dozen friends who have gotten it. Twice that if you count relatives of people I know. It’s nasty and vile. So I will continue to wear a mask and will be unwavering on tasks to keep my family alive at all costs.

Shahab Zargari is an award-winning filmmaker with a passion for art, photography, music, and creative advertising. He graduated in 2000 from the University of California at Irvine with a degree in Sociology, and a minor in Education.

He joined the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in November 2016 as the communications coordinator for the College of Fine Arts & Performing Arts Center. His job responsibilities include communications and social media management for the departments of art, dance, film, theatre, the School of Architecture, the School of Music, and the Performing Arts Center.

Find out more about him on his website.

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Kathleen KuoOctober 12, 2020CComment