RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM: 50 YEARS OF IRANIAN CINEMA

This year the Persian International Film Festival has a Retrospective on Iranian cinema. Iranian cinema, for those who know of it, is one of the most exciting in the world. The retrospective, which dates back to as early as 1969 offers viewers a gradual insight into some of the key films and directors and traces the development of Iranian cinema throughout its recent history.

The program begins with Dariush Mehrjui’s The Cow (1969). The Cow is the story Hassan a villager whose only valuable possession is his cow. When he leaves the village for a short time and returns, his cow has died. But the other villagers are afraid of his reaction, and they hide the death from him. When he finds out about this incident, he gradually goes insane, believing that he is actually the cow, adapting cow-like habits, such as eating hay. The story ends tragically as the villagers try to come to terms with his insanity.

This film is considered Dariush Mehrjui’s master piece. His second feature, The Cow brought him national and international recognition and it is one of the films that signaled the emergence of Iranian New Cinema. The Cow was among the very first projects to receive the State funding, however, it was banned by the pre-revolutionary censors for the dark images of Iranian rural society. The film was smuggled to 1971 Venice Film Festival and unprogrammed and unsubtitled, it turned out to be the event of festival that year. The Cow received the Critics’ Award in Venice and toured the world festivals. The Cow which is now considered as a cult film has been selected as the Best Film of Iranian Cinema in 3 different polling by Iranian critics. (See Iranian Chamber for more information)

The retrospective continues with Amir Naderi’s The Runner (1985). Amir Naderi is one of Iran’s top directors. Born in Iran in 1945 in the Persian Gulf port of Abadan, Naderi was orphaned at an early age. Living the life on the street, Naderi had to survive by selling ice, working as a shoeshine boy and recycling empty bottles.
In his early teens, he left Abadan and travelled to Tehran where he managed to obtain work as a still photographer on movie sets – a job that he performed into his early twenties. He loved the cinema and quickly felt that it was where he belonged.
 In 1970, he directed his first feature film, ‘Khoda Hafez Rafigh’ (Goodbye Friend), and a year later completed his second feature, ‘Tangna’. The Runner, his second feature, is considered by many critics to be one of the most influential films of the past quarter century.
 Naderi has lived in New York City since 1987 directing various feature films such as : ‘Manhattan By Numbers’ (1993), ‘Manhattan ABC’ (1997), ‘Marathon’ (2002) and ‘Vegas’ 2008.

The Runner is considered one of the greatest first films after the Islamic Revolution. Created at the height of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) it tells the story of an orphan, Amiro, as he tries to survive and make do with his surroundings. The Runner gained wide critical recognition on the international film festival circuit and it brought wider attention to what has since become the celebrated “postrevolutionary art-house” cinema in Iran.

Bashu, the Little Stranger (1986), made by another one of Iran’s renowned filmmakers, Bahram Beizai, continues on in the same tradition as Naderi’s The Runner. Another film created at the height of the war, it tells the story of a young boy who has lost his parents during the war. Estranged after their death, he escapes his bombed village on a cargo truck to the north and finds refuge with a Gilaki woman and her children. But the two speak different dialects. While Bashu speaks Arabic, the family speaks Gilaki. The film is the first ever to explores the intercultural relationship in Iran and for the first time to bring to screen stories of those of minority background as serious subject matters without them being subjects of humour.

Abbas Kiarostami, by all means, is considered the greatest living Iranian filmmaker. Close Up (1990) is one of his most intriguing films, inspired by real events. It tells the story of the real-life trial of a man who impersonated another great Iranian film-maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, conning a family into believing they would star in his new film. A film about human identity, it helped to increase recognition of Kiarostami in the West. In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, it was voted by critics onto “The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time” list.

Two Women (1999) is directed by one of Iran’s top female directors Tahmineh Milani. It follows the lives of two promising architecture students over the course of the first turbulent years of the Islamic Republic, creating a portrait of traditions that appears to trap women and stop them from realizing their full potential. In an interview Milani stated that the name Two Women alluded to two different potential life-stories of one woman. The film won the best screenplay award at Iran’s Fajr Film Festival in 1999 as well as Best Actress for Niki Karimi‘s part in the Taormina Film Festival.

Milani is a prominent figure in Iranian cinema known for her bravery and feminist perspective and for highlighting the oppressions and pressures of women’s lives in Iran. She was imprisoned in 2001 for her views but was soon released after a global campaign for her freedom by renowned filmmakers such as Franic Ford Coppola and Martin Scoresese.

The Retrospective continues into the 2000s with two films that use children allegorically to tell of larger socio-political events in Iran. In In Iranian film tradition, following on from the censorships, filmmakers have started using children as allegories for adult situation. Two films that depict this are Majid Majidi’s Colour of Paradise (2001), about a blind boy as his poor father tries to accommodate to his son’s disability, and Bahman Ghobadi’s (2004) Turtles can Fly, a noir film reminiscing Lord of Flies where very serious adult issues are depicted through children.

Of course no retrospective would be complete without introducing the Makhmalbafs. Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Kandahar, set in Afghanistan, introduces us to some of the issues of the surrounding countries, and offers us an introduction to the wave of Iranian directors who began to work outside of Iran. However, one has to note that Makhmalbaf is well known for his work set in Iran. His master pieces of clever cinematic depiction have paved the way for the works of many other Iranian filmmakers. While Mohsen is known for his work, the tradition of filmmaking has continued in the Makhmalbaf family. His two daughters Samira and Hana have become renowned filmmakers in their own rights making such award winning films as The Apple and Blackboard, as well Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame.

Another Iranian woman director highlighted in the retrospective is Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. Co-directed by Bani-Etemad and her long-time collaborator Mohsen Abdolvahab, Gilaneh is a film that once again takes us back to the war. It is an emotionally compelling study of the suffering of an Iranian countrywoman whose only son returns from the war with Iraq a helpless invalid, and a profound reflection on the human consequences of war.

Bani-Etemad is considered as one of Iran’s premier female director, and her films have been praised at international festivals as well as being remarkably popular with Iranian critics and audiences. Her title as “First Lady of Iranian Cinema” is not only a reference to her prominence as a filmmaker, but it also connotes her social role of merging politics and family in her work. Bani-Etemad was born into a middle-class family. While her parents wanted her to pursue a career in teaching, she demonstrated an interest in film from a young age. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies from the Dramatic Arts University in Tehran. Shortly after completing her degree, she began working for the Iranian television network IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting), where she began directing television documentary features. Her features are steeped in the social and economic problems of Iran. She did not receive immediate praise upon entering the film industry. Her early feature films were met by harsh criticism. However, she finally earned critical and popular success in 1991 with her film Narges. She received the Best Director Award from the Fajr Film Festival, marking the first time in the history of the festival that a woman was awarded the Best Director prize. Since then she has received numerous awards for her films, including a Bronze Leopard Award for her film The Blue-Veiled at the 1995 Locarno Film Festival.

The Retrospective takes us into the troubled age of Iranian cinema by introducing Jafar Panahi. Panahi’s work has always focused on the marginal issues of women and it has brought him face to face with trouble. Offside (2006), for instance, tells the story of a group of girls who want to go to the stadium to watch a football match despite restrictions that women face in going to the stadium. Panahi is currently one of Iran’s most troubled filmmakers and has been banned for making films or traveling outside of Iran for 25 years after his involvement and support of the green movement in 2009 after the Iranian presidential elections. This has not stopped him. Since then he has made two films secretly. His This is not a Film, and Closed Curtain, smuggled out of the country have both had world premiers and received great success worldwide.

The Retrospective ends with two films from Iran’s hottest director, Asghar Farhadi. While the festival held a tribute to his cinema last year screening his first two feature films Dancing in the Dust, and Beautiful City, this year, it continues to follow his work in Fireworks Wednesday and About Elly, two psychologically thrilling films that depict various aspects of modern human relationships and make us question everything about truth and lies.

While the retrospective offers a slight glance at the history of Iranian cinema, the 2013 Official Selection brings viewers more recent visions of the cinematic situation in Iran.