During my sessions in analytical psychotherapy, one of the most thought-provoking questions I encountered was how the conscious and unconscious mind functionand, more broadly, how mental patterns and schemas operate. This curiosity led me to create a short film centered on the idea that the mind, in its attempt to preserve psychological stability, often resists change and keeps us anchored in outdated patterns.
What fascinated me was how we constantly re-translate and reinterpret external events in order to fit them into our existing mental frameworks. In doing so, reality becomes distorted - sometimes subtly, sometimes significantly - and our responses to situations are shaped more by internal assumptions than by the external truth. These distortions can cause damage not only to the self but to the body, relationships, and society at large.
Parallel to this, through my research and conversations with child laborers, I came to realize that the psychological harm they suffer, at least in Iran, is often far greater than the physical harm. In nearly every social interaction, one can see traces of those who either mistreat them or, perhaps more complicatedly, try to shower them with affection.
With abusive individuals, the children have learned how to escape by fleeing, ignoring, or disengaging. However, things become more complex when they're exposed to excessive, idealized kindness, often driven by unmet childhood fantasies of the adults themselves -fantasies in which these adults unconsciously cast themselves as rescuers or heroes. Lavish gifts, expensive clothing, outings to luxury restaurants, or birthday parties with toys their families could never afford, all well-intentioned, but potentially damaging.
In those moments, the child may feel joy. But once they returned to the harsh reality of their daily life, selling flowers, collecting recyclables, washing car windows, the memory of that extravagant gesture became a painful reminder of a life they could never have. It leads to shame, confusion, anger toward their family, and eventually a crisis of identity. They realize that such moments are not repeatable, not sustainable, not something they -or their families- can ever recreate.
For a child, facing the brutal contrast between "what is" and "what could have been" creates a lasting psychological wound. What was meant to be a moment of happiness turns into a lingering form of suffering, rooted in the discontinuity of experience.
This made me reflect on how similar this process is to the way the mind sometimes works: instead of confronting reality, it distorts it into fantasized narratives. While these fantasies may offer short-term comfort, they often keep us trapped in cycles of self-deception and dysfunctional mental schemas.
With that in mind, I turned to metaphor in the writing of this film. Rather than explaining psychological concepts directly, I aimed to embody them through visual and intuitive storytelling, drawing on my background in analytical psychology and my practice in conceptual filmmaking.
I also explored how each decision or action in life might function like a form of psychic credit—a mechanism the mind uses to maintain its internal regulation system, the Self. Through this short film, I hope I’ve managed to convey a small part of that hidden and complex process.
Ershad Rahbar Sobkhiz-
Writer & Director