Songs That Never End: A Film by Yehuda Sharim

Abstract

Songs That Never End (2019) is a fascinating, compelling, and mesmerizing film. It focuses on seemingly small events inside small spaces to pose big questions about how people struggle with the hand that history has dealt them in a time of devastation, dispossession, and displacement. Filmed in cinema verité style, yet brilliantly shot, framed, and paced by director, camera operator, and interviewer Yehuda Sharim, Songs That Never End revolves around the everyday life experiences, events, injuries, and aspirations of an Iranian immigrant family living in a small apartment in Houston. Across nearly two hours of cinema, it sutures together a series of short scenes that convey chaos and unpredictability in the lives of these refugees who never find refuge, these exiles for whom exile never ends.