Read @ Joe’s

SLAMDANCE ’25: Narrative Short

Title: The Sweater (2024) Director: Maziyar Khatam Writer: Maziyar Khatam Studio: Funnybone Pictures IMDb Plot: Pressured into giving away his clothes, an emasculated young man obsessively attempts to reclaim his cherished sweater before it vanishes into the donation abyss. Joe Says: The Sweater speaks to both the importance of conflict and the power of a quest all wrapped in the comfortable cotton of a silly comedy.

The Sweater is an absurd, ridiculous, and entirely enjoyable short about self-worth, sentimental value, and the price placed on significance. Written, directed, and starring Maziyar Khatam, The Sweater speaks to both the importance of conflict and the power of a quest all wrapped in the comfortable cotton of a silly comedy.

Khatam plays a young man who is pressured by his girlfriend (Producer Anya Chirkova) to donate a huge pile of worthless clothes or face relational consequences. He silently complies only to realize that his cherished mushroom sweater (“Hey, I’m a fun-guy”) got caught up in the donation blitz. Khatam’s character takes up a holy quest of rescue. He might not have a spine around his girl, or even his dude-bro friends, but throughout the short his confidence grows during his pursuit. Hilarity ensues within.

Outside of the comedic physicality, Khatam showcases the divergence between triviality and the necessity for possession. Khatam’s character might not actually need the sweater but it soon becomes a proxy where he – eventually – demands that he be listened to. There is not so much value in the actual sweater but in who he is as a person. John Oates mustache and all. 

Khatam films the short in a quasi-documentary style. His character is not followed as the subject of a narrative feature, rather, he is being watched: first pitifully, then semi-heroically. His eventual victory, then, is not in reclaiming the sweater but his internal conviction and validation. Khatam, as a filmmaker, undauntingly sells this character’s achievement, even when no one else is paying attention. And Maziyar Khatam, the filmmaker, rightly deserves the attention.

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This review – and much more – is available on Cinefied

Be sure to catch The Sweater – and many other indie projects – over at Slamdance