FILMMAKER • SOCIOLOGIST • PHOTOGRAPHER
FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:
International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, Envision Competition, November 2021 (world premiere)
DocPoint Helsinki, January 2022
Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Documentary Competition, March 2-12, 2022 (US premiere)
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, NEW DOCS Competition, April 7-10, 2022
Istanbul Film Festival, National Documentary Competition, April 8-19, 2022
(WINNER: best documentary)
IU Cinema, April 26, 2022
Taiwan International Documentary Festival, May 6-15, 2022
One World Romania, Body and Soul selection, May 13-22, 2022
Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Zwierciadło Magazine Competition, May 24-June 5, 2022
Flying Broomstick International Women's Film Festival, June 4-5, 2022
Biografilm Bologna, Contemporary Lives selection, June 10-20, 2022
Sheffield DocFest, Youth Jury Award Competition, June 23-28, 2022
Ayvalık International Film Festival, September 16-21 2022
Heartland International Film Festival, Indiana Spotlight Competition, October 6-16, 2022
Antenna Documentary Film Festival, International Competition, October 14-23, 2022 (WINNER: best feature documentary)
Screening Rights Film Festival, October 27-30, 2022
(closing night film)
Rendezvous with Madness, October 27 - November 6, 2022
Central Scotland Documentary Festival, November 3-7, 2022
Leeds International Film Festival, Disability Futures section, November 3-17, 2022.
Budapest International Documentary Festival, Be Honest section, January 25-29, 2023.
Festival ImagéSanté, International Competition, March 27-April 1, 2023.
I co-directed and co-produced (together with Adam Isenberg and Senem Tüzen of Zela Film) this feature documentary about the last years of my mom's life with ALS and her relationships with family and caregivers. I wrote an article about the process here.
Made with support from...
Indiana University Center for Documentary Research and Practice,
IU Bloomington Arts & Humanities Council,
and many generous and patient friends and family members!
For screening and licensing information in the US, please contact Grasshopper Film.
For the rest of the world, contact Zela Film.
REVIEWS:
“Co-director Noah Arjomand chronicles his own mother's struggle with the degenerative disease to courageously intimate, brutally moving effect… an unusually unsentimental, everyday document of ALS, tender in the expressly painful manner of a fresh bruise.”
Guy Lodge, VARIETY
“Crucially, the film gives Kathryn a platform to tell — and indeed show — her story, in her own unique way. Her lingering hope is that viewers don’t think she’s pathetic, but plucky. Painstakingly edited by Adam Isenberg and Senem Tuzen, this film grants her that wish.”
Nikki Baughan, SCREEN DAILY
“'Eat Your Catfish' is one of the most emotionally enthralling cinematic experiences you will ever have. It will leave you vibrating with anger and sympathy, but also joy and hope."
Christopher Lloyd, THE FILM YAP
“An astonishingly open, moving, funny and challenging insight into the world of a woman paralysed but with her mind intact, Eat Your Catfish is remarkable in portraying an intimate and powerful portrait of a family stretched to its very breaking point.”
Mark Adams, BUSINESS DOC EUROPE
"Kathryn does not mince words, even though she can only communicate via eye movements due to the muscular disease ALS… Kathryn retains her sharp wit and her humour, but it is a gruelling existence for her and her loved ones. Rarely has a film about illness offered such a revealing look at what more breaks down besides the body."
Pauline Kleijer, DE VOLKSKRANT
“At the end of the day, with all the hardships and challenges that are shown throughout the documentary, the pursuit of happiness remains intact for Kathryn and all parties involved [in taking] care of her… Kathryn demonstrated insurmountable odds of patience and willpower to get through each day living through a dysfunctional family, which serves a great amount of inspiration for audience members to appreciate what one is capable of [to overcome] the odds.”
Henry Tran, UNIVERSAL CINEMA
"Eat Your Catfish is a very powerful and moving film about perspective. Both in the sense that it’s almost all filmed from Kathryn’s eyeline and in her particular outlook on what she wants from the rest of her time on Earth."
Rob Aldam, BACKSEAT MAFIA
"At no point does this feel like a tired stereotype of disability. There are no images of silent saints, doting husbands, or selfless children. They are allowed to be flawed humans, trying to do the right thing for the one they love, but often failing..."
Rebecca Crocket, BRIG NEWSPAPER
"...what makes this documentary interesting is how it gives Kathryn complexity and equal, active agency around her..."
Paolo Kagaoan, IN THE SEATS