Newsflash: Iran has invaded the sleepy Canadian city of Winnipeg. Correction: Iranian cinema has actually invaded Winnipeg. Precision: Two Iranian movies that launched the nation onto the international film scene, Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) and Jafar Panahi’s The White Balloon (1995), have somehow found their way into the capital of Manitoba.
What exactly they’re doing there is never explained. Nor is it really the point of director Matthew Rankin’s bizarre and enchanting experimental comedy Universal Language, which picked up the first-ever audience award in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Starring the director himself alongside a cast of Farsi-speaking locals both young and old, the film is rather hard to describe on paper, but let’s give it a shot.
We’re in snow-covered Winnipeg, which half-resembles the drab, midsized Canadian city, and half looks like a neigborhood somewhere in Tehran — not present-day Tehran, but Tehran circa the 1980s and 90s.
What exactly they’re doing there is never explained. Nor is it really the point of director Matthew Rankin’s bizarre and enchanting experimental comedy Universal Language, which picked up the first-ever audience award in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Starring the director himself alongside a cast of Farsi-speaking locals both young and old, the film is rather hard to describe on paper, but let’s give it a shot.
We’re in snow-covered Winnipeg, which half-resembles the drab, midsized Canadian city, and half looks like a neigborhood somewhere in Tehran — not present-day Tehran, but Tehran circa the 1980s and 90s.
- 5/27/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Despite being set in a parallel-universe Winnipeg where the people talk in Farsi and the world around them seems as if it’s been frozen in time since the mid-1980s, the haunted but hopeful “Universal Language” is an unmistakably modern film at heart.
Described by writer-director Matthew Rankin as a piece of “autobiographical hallucination,” this wonderfully deadpan whatsit is the work of a white 43-year-old Canadian man who fell in love with the movies a time when “foreign” cinema was becoming more available to people outside major cultural hubs. He found that Kanoon-style fables like “Where Is the Friend’s House?” and “The White Balloon” spoke to him in a way that few English-language films ever had. That discovery sparked a cross-cultural dialogue that eventually compelled Rankin to visit Tehran in an effort to locate the auteurs who had inspired him and learn why their films had whispered in his ear.
Described by writer-director Matthew Rankin as a piece of “autobiographical hallucination,” this wonderfully deadpan whatsit is the work of a white 43-year-old Canadian man who fell in love with the movies a time when “foreign” cinema was becoming more available to people outside major cultural hubs. He found that Kanoon-style fables like “Where Is the Friend’s House?” and “The White Balloon” spoke to him in a way that few English-language films ever had. That discovery sparked a cross-cultural dialogue that eventually compelled Rankin to visit Tehran in an effort to locate the auteurs who had inspired him and learn why their films had whispered in his ear.
- 5/24/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
In the Canadian cities of Montreal and Winnipeg, a futile tension exists between French and English speakers — doubly silly, since the country is officially bilingual. In his gently satirical “Universal Language,” writer-director Matthew Rankin imagines a rather fanciful solution, where Farsi is now the region’s dominant tongue. Taking his cues from such Iranian classics as “Children of Heaven” and “The White Balloon,” Rankin mixes the humanism of Majid Majidi, Jafar Panahi, et al. with his own peculiar brand of comedy (as seen in the more off-the-wall “The Twentieth Century”), offering a delightful cross-cultural hybrid designed to celebrate our differences.
Though Rankin shows a genuine affection for all things Persian, the first and most obvious hiccup to his premise is that audiences don’t necessarily share his interest or his references. There’s something inherently provocative — and perhaps even triggering to some — about seeing a nondescript Canadian elementary school where...
Though Rankin shows a genuine affection for all things Persian, the first and most obvious hiccup to his premise is that audiences don’t necessarily share his interest or his references. There’s something inherently provocative — and perhaps even triggering to some — about seeing a nondescript Canadian elementary school where...
- 5/18/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The award-winning auteur was released from prison in February.
Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi has reportedly left Iran for the first time since 2009 after his travel ban was lifted, according to his wife Tahereh Saeedi.
A post by Saeedi on Instagram appeared to show her and Panahi at an undisclosed airport with a stack of suitcases. The caption read: “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was cancelled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days.”
Observers on social media speculate that he is in France, based on the background of the image.
View this post on Instagram
A...
Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi has reportedly left Iran for the first time since 2009 after his travel ban was lifted, according to his wife Tahereh Saeedi.
A post by Saeedi on Instagram appeared to show her and Panahi at an undisclosed airport with a stack of suitcases. The caption read: “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was cancelled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days.”
Observers on social media speculate that he is in France, based on the background of the image.
View this post on Instagram
A...
- 4/26/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Jafar Panahi has left Iran for the first time in 14 years after the heralded Iranian filmmaker’s longstanding travel was apparently lifted.
His wife, Tahereh Saeidi, shared a photo of them entering an undisclosed airport to her Instagram Tuesday night, writing, “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was canceled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days…”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Tahereh saeedi (@taherehsaidii)
The image indicates the first time the director and political figure behind “The White Balloon,” “The Circle,” “Taxi” and most recently “No Bears” has left Iran since he was sentenced to a 20-year travel and filmmaking ban in 2010 for “making propaganda against the system” — a directive that to this point has not slowed his directing career but has held him to the nation’s borders.
In July 2022, Panahi was arrested and imprisoned after he protested the arrest of...
His wife, Tahereh Saeidi, shared a photo of them entering an undisclosed airport to her Instagram Tuesday night, writing, “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was canceled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days…”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Tahereh saeedi (@taherehsaidii)
The image indicates the first time the director and political figure behind “The White Balloon,” “The Circle,” “Taxi” and most recently “No Bears” has left Iran since he was sentenced to a 20-year travel and filmmaking ban in 2010 for “making propaganda against the system” — a directive that to this point has not slowed his directing career but has held him to the nation’s borders.
In July 2022, Panahi was arrested and imprisoned after he protested the arrest of...
- 4/26/2023
- by Benjamin Lindsay
- The Wrap
Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi is reported to have left Iran for the first time in 14 years following the lifting of a travel ban imposed on him in 2009.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture on Instagram on Tuesday night showing her arriving with her husband at an undisclosed airport.
It was cryptically captioned: “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was cancelled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days…”
Panahi is seen waving and pushing a luggage trolley laden with three large suitcases.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Tahereh saeedi (@taherehsaidii)
There is no information on where the picture was taken although there have been suggestions on social media that the backdrop is a French airport.
Panahi – whose credits include The White Balloon, The Circle and Taxi – has spent most of his filmmaking career in the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic government.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture on Instagram on Tuesday night showing her arriving with her husband at an undisclosed airport.
It was cryptically captioned: “After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was cancelled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days…”
Panahi is seen waving and pushing a luggage trolley laden with three large suitcases.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Tahereh saeedi (@taherehsaidii)
There is no information on where the picture was taken although there have been suggestions on social media that the backdrop is a French airport.
Panahi – whose credits include The White Balloon, The Circle and Taxi – has spent most of his filmmaking career in the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic government.
- 4/26/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Michel Dimopoulos, former director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, has died. He was 74.
Dimopoulos served as Thessaloniki’s artistic director from 1991 to 2005. In a statement published Thursday afternoon, the festival said Dimopoulos brought a “fresh breath of originality” to Thessaloniki during his tenure and “expanded the institution’s international horizons.”
“Michel had always been on the side of the Festival and its people. He was an ardent film lover and a passionate supporter of independent European cinema,” the statement read.
“He will live on in Olympion’s corridors, in the Port, inside the movie theaters, tireless and with a smile on his face, soulfully speaking for the films he loved, expanding our horizons and introducing us to the pioneering and restless cinema of the new era.”
Dimopoulos was born in 1949 in Paris. He studied cinema in France and began his career as a film critic in Avgi, a daily left-wing newspaper published in Athens,...
Dimopoulos served as Thessaloniki’s artistic director from 1991 to 2005. In a statement published Thursday afternoon, the festival said Dimopoulos brought a “fresh breath of originality” to Thessaloniki during his tenure and “expanded the institution’s international horizons.”
“Michel had always been on the side of the Festival and its people. He was an ardent film lover and a passionate supporter of independent European cinema,” the statement read.
“He will live on in Olympion’s corridors, in the Port, inside the movie theaters, tireless and with a smile on his face, soulfully speaking for the films he loved, expanding our horizons and introducing us to the pioneering and restless cinema of the new era.”
Dimopoulos was born in 1949 in Paris. He studied cinema in France and began his career as a film critic in Avgi, a daily left-wing newspaper published in Athens,...
- 4/21/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Museum of the Moving Image
Tokyo Story plays on 35mm this Friday and Sunday.
Film Forum
Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity plays in a 4K restoration; Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45 and The Conformist continue their runs; a Jeanne Moreau retrospective highlights her three, rarely screened directing efforts as well as her onscreen work; Panahi’s The White Balloon plays on 35mm this Sunday.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Luis Buñuel screen through the weekend in Essential Cinema.
Film at Lincoln Center
A retrospective of Tod Browning’s dark world brings the likes of Freaks and Dracula, while the newly restored Drylongso continues screening. (Read our interview with director Cauleen Smith here.)
IFC Center
Before Sunrise screens, while Fight Club, Akira, Jaws, Barb Wire, and Poison Ivy have late showings.
Roxy Cinema
Synecdoche, New York and Paul Williams...
Museum of the Moving Image
Tokyo Story plays on 35mm this Friday and Sunday.
Film Forum
Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity plays in a 4K restoration; Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45 and The Conformist continue their runs; a Jeanne Moreau retrospective highlights her three, rarely screened directing efforts as well as her onscreen work; Panahi’s The White Balloon plays on 35mm this Sunday.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Luis Buñuel screen through the weekend in Essential Cinema.
Film at Lincoln Center
A retrospective of Tod Browning’s dark world brings the likes of Freaks and Dracula, while the newly restored Drylongso continues screening. (Read our interview with director Cauleen Smith here.)
IFC Center
Before Sunrise screens, while Fight Club, Akira, Jaws, Barb Wire, and Poison Ivy have late showings.
Roxy Cinema
Synecdoche, New York and Paul Williams...
- 3/24/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
A tragic saga rife with human rights violations and government overreach has narrowly avoided the worst possible outcome. Critically acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been released from prison after his unjust arrest in early July of 2022, which occurred in the midst of widespread protests centered on freedom of expression throughout the country. The filmmaker's wife Tahereh Saeedi revealed the good news on social media and other outlets (via Deadline) alongside her attorney Saleh Nikbakht, who said in a terse but vindicating statement:
"Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi's release, it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision."
The court decision in question refers to the circumstances surrounding Panahi's original arrest in 2010, in which the director was handed a six-year prison sentence of "propaganda against the system" in retribution for attending the...
"Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi's release, it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision."
The court decision in question refers to the circumstances surrounding Panahi's original arrest in 2010, in which the director was handed a six-year prison sentence of "propaganda against the system" in retribution for attending the...
- 2/3/2023
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
Jafar Panahi has been released on bail from Tehran’s Evin Prison, 48 hours after he went on a hunger strike in protest of his unlawful imprisonment.
The filmmaker’s wife Tahereh Saeidi and her lawyers Saleh Nikbakht and Yusef Moulai announced the news in a phone call to independent international cinema reporter Mansour Jahani, and on social media.
“Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi’s release; But it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision,” Nikbakht said via press statement. “I am surprised by these ‘sledgehammer encounters’ with Mr. Panahi and other artists, writers, intellectuals and journalists and generally protestors of the status quo. As they even neglect to implement the decision of the highest judicial authority.”
Also Read:
Director Jafar Panahi on Hunger Strike Protest of ‘Illegal and Inhumane’ Imprisonment in...
The filmmaker’s wife Tahereh Saeidi and her lawyers Saleh Nikbakht and Yusef Moulai announced the news in a phone call to independent international cinema reporter Mansour Jahani, and on social media.
“Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi’s release; But it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision,” Nikbakht said via press statement. “I am surprised by these ‘sledgehammer encounters’ with Mr. Panahi and other artists, writers, intellectuals and journalists and generally protestors of the status quo. As they even neglect to implement the decision of the highest judicial authority.”
Also Read:
Director Jafar Panahi on Hunger Strike Protest of ‘Illegal and Inhumane’ Imprisonment in...
- 2/3/2023
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
Panahi was on the third day of a hunger strike in protest at his detention.
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been “temporarily” released from prison in Iran, three days after he went on hunger strike in protest at his arrest in July.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeidi posted a picture of herself and her husband this afternoon (February 3), along with the words, “Temporary release of Jafar Panahi.”
She added: ”Today, Friday, February 16th, and on the third day of Jafar Panahi’s dry strike; with the efforts of his family, respected lawyers, representatives of the cinema house and the cinema organization,...
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been “temporarily” released from prison in Iran, three days after he went on hunger strike in protest at his arrest in July.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeidi posted a picture of herself and her husband this afternoon (February 3), along with the words, “Temporary release of Jafar Panahi.”
She added: ”Today, Friday, February 16th, and on the third day of Jafar Panahi’s dry strike; with the efforts of his family, respected lawyers, representatives of the cinema house and the cinema organization,...
- 2/3/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
The news was confirmed by Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeidi and her lawyers to local media and on social media.
Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said: “Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi’s release, it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision.”
The news has been greeted with joy by the global film community, which had been campaigning for months for Panahi’s release.
The filmmaker, a regular at A-list festivals including Cannes, Berlin and Venice, had been imprisoned even though his sentence had previously been declared void by the country’s Supreme Court. He had gone on hunger strike earlier this week.
The director was arrested in early July amid a crackdown on freedom of expression, after going to Evin...
The news was confirmed by Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeidi and her lawyers to local media and on social media.
Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said: “Although I am happy about Mr. Panahi’s release, it must be said that his release should have taken place three months ago, following the acceptance of our objection to his previous court decision.”
The news has been greeted with joy by the global film community, which had been campaigning for months for Panahi’s release.
The filmmaker, a regular at A-list festivals including Cannes, Berlin and Venice, had been imprisoned even though his sentence had previously been declared void by the country’s Supreme Court. He had gone on hunger strike earlier this week.
The director was arrested in early July amid a crackdown on freedom of expression, after going to Evin...
- 2/3/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Panahi was arrested to serve a six-year prison sentence in July.
Golden Bear-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has gone on hunger strike in the country’s Evin prison in protest over his arrest in July.
In a statement on his wife Tahereh Saeidi’s Instagram page, Panahi said: “Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to protest against these inhumane behaviors with my dearest possession, that is, my life.
“Therefore, I firmly declare that in protest against the extra-legal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and this particular hostage-taking, I have started...
Golden Bear-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has gone on hunger strike in the country’s Evin prison in protest over his arrest in July.
In a statement on his wife Tahereh Saeidi’s Instagram page, Panahi said: “Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to protest against these inhumane behaviors with my dearest possession, that is, my life.
“Therefore, I firmly declare that in protest against the extra-legal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and this particular hostage-taking, I have started...
- 2/2/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Los Angeles, Feb 2 (Ians) Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, known for ‘The White Balloon’, ‘The Circle’ and ‘Taxi’, is on a hunger strike to protest his ongoing detention at Iran’s harsh Evin prison, even though his sentence has been declared void by the country’s Supreme Court.
The move comes just days after hopes that the director was on the verge of being released on bail were dashed, even though his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht had successfully challenged his detention, reports ‘Deadline’.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi and son Panah Panahi released a statement on behalf of the director announcing his intention to stop eating on their Instagram accounts Wednesday evening.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behaviour of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” wrote Panahi.
“I...
The move comes just days after hopes that the director was on the verge of being released on bail were dashed, even though his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht had successfully challenged his detention, reports ‘Deadline’.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi and son Panah Panahi released a statement on behalf of the director announcing his intention to stop eating on their Instagram accounts Wednesday evening.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behaviour of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” wrote Panahi.
“I...
- 2/2/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film “No Bears,” opened in the U.S. in December, has begun a hunger strike to protest to protest his continued detention at the notoriously harsh Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, despite an Iranian Supreme Court ruling that overturned his conviction in January.
His wife, Tahereh Saeedi, and son, Panah Panahi, both shared his statement in Instagram posts on Wednesday.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” the statement shared with media outlets read.
“I will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release. I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is freed from prison.”
Also Read:
‘No Bears’ Review: Jafar Panahi Continues to Create Powerful Art,...
His wife, Tahereh Saeedi, and son, Panah Panahi, both shared his statement in Instagram posts on Wednesday.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” the statement shared with media outlets read.
“I will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release. I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is freed from prison.”
Also Read:
‘No Bears’ Review: Jafar Panahi Continues to Create Powerful Art,...
- 2/2/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has gone on a hunger strike to protest his ongoing detention at Iran’s notoriously harsh Evin prison, even though his sentence has been declared void by the country’s Supreme Court.
The move comes just days after hopes that the director was on the verge of being released on bail were dashed, even though his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht had successfully challenged his detention.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi and son Panah Panahi published a statement from the director announcing his intention to stop eating on their Instagram accounts Wednesday evening.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” wrote Panahi.
“I will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release.
The move comes just days after hopes that the director was on the verge of being released on bail were dashed, even though his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht had successfully challenged his detention.
Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi and son Panah Panahi published a statement from the director announcing his intention to stop eating on their Instagram accounts Wednesday evening.
“I firmly declare that in protest against the illegal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of the 12th of Bahman (February 1),” wrote Panahi.
“I will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release.
- 2/1/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Jafar Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi issued a fresh appeal for her imprisoned husband to be released as his period of captivity entered 200 days, in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Her statement follows the news at the weekend that Panahi was possibly on the verge of being released on bail after his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht successfully challenged his detention in the Supreme Court last October.
“Last week, the news came that Jafar will be released within the week. We were happy again and felt better. Today, a week has passed, and Jafar hasn’t come. Exactly 200 days have passed since Jafar was imprisoned. We are disappointed,” she wrote.
Panahi was arrested in early July amid a crackdown on freedom of expression, after going to a prosecutor’s office in Tehran to enquire the about whereabouts of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad following their detention a few days previously.
It...
Her statement follows the news at the weekend that Panahi was possibly on the verge of being released on bail after his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht successfully challenged his detention in the Supreme Court last October.
“Last week, the news came that Jafar will be released within the week. We were happy again and felt better. Today, a week has passed, and Jafar hasn’t come. Exactly 200 days have passed since Jafar was imprisoned. We are disappointed,” she wrote.
Panahi was arrested in early July amid a crackdown on freedom of expression, after going to a prosecutor’s office in Tehran to enquire the about whereabouts of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad following their detention a few days previously.
It...
- 1/26/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
In a strong show of support and solidarity, the 79th Venice International Film Festival honored Jafar Panahi by organizing an unprecedented flash-mob red carpet for the screening of his new film “No Bears,” despite the conspicuous absence of Panahi himself. The ceremony was a sad reminder of the shameful detention of him and fellow filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof by the Islamic Republic in Iran while his work was being celebrated on a prestigious international stage.
This was not the first time Panahi was absent at a festival screening of one of his films. He has been barred from leaving the country since 2010 when he was arrested and jailed for nearly three months on bogus charges of acting against national security. He was also banned from making films for 20 years, but he kept working surreptitiously in defiance of the absurdly unjust verdict. He strongly suspected at the time that the Islamic regime...
This was not the first time Panahi was absent at a festival screening of one of his films. He has been barred from leaving the country since 2010 when he was arrested and jailed for nearly three months on bogus charges of acting against national security. He was also banned from making films for 20 years, but he kept working surreptitiously in defiance of the absurdly unjust verdict. He strongly suspected at the time that the Islamic regime...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jamsheed Akrami
- Indiewire
Venice jury head Julianne Moore joined activists from the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr) in a flash mob on the Venice red carpet Friday evening to call for the release of Jafar Panahi, the Iranian director who was detained in Tehran in July.
Venice jury member Audrey Diwan joined Moore on the frontlines of the protest alongside filmmaker Sally Potter, Orizzonti Jury President Isabel Coixet, and Venice festival head Antonio Barbera.
Venice Review: Jafar Panahi’s ‘No Bears’
The participants held placards depicting Panahi’s face alongside the message: “Release Jafar Panahi!”
The protest took place on the Palazzo Del Cinema red carpet prior to the screening of Pahani’s latest film No Bears, which screens in competition.
Panahi has been in custody since July 12 after going to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran to follow up on the whereabouts of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad after they...
Venice jury member Audrey Diwan joined Moore on the frontlines of the protest alongside filmmaker Sally Potter, Orizzonti Jury President Isabel Coixet, and Venice festival head Antonio Barbera.
Venice Review: Jafar Panahi’s ‘No Bears’
The participants held placards depicting Panahi’s face alongside the message: “Release Jafar Panahi!”
The protest took place on the Palazzo Del Cinema red carpet prior to the screening of Pahani’s latest film No Bears, which screens in competition.
Panahi has been in custody since July 12 after going to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran to follow up on the whereabouts of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad after they...
- 9/9/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The international trailer has been debuted for Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” which has its world premiere on Sept. 9 in competition at Venice Film Festival, before moving to Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams, which is handling world sales, has revealed territory deals with several distributors. Last month, Panahi was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by the Iranian judiciary.
The political thriller/drama portrays two parallel stories of love. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power.
Celluloid Dreams has closed deals with the following distributors: Picturehouse Entertainment (U.K.), Arp Selection (France), Academy Two (Italy), La Aventura (Spain), Golden Scene (Hong Kong/Macau), Impact Films (India), Midas Filmes (Portugal), Panda Film (Austria), September Films (Benelux), and Pt Falcon (Indonesia).
The cast includes Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari.
The political thriller/drama portrays two parallel stories of love. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power.
Celluloid Dreams has closed deals with the following distributors: Picturehouse Entertainment (U.K.), Arp Selection (France), Academy Two (Italy), La Aventura (Spain), Golden Scene (Hong Kong/Macau), Impact Films (India), Midas Filmes (Portugal), Panda Film (Austria), September Films (Benelux), and Pt Falcon (Indonesia).
The cast includes Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari.
- 8/17/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Early on in a family’s drive across northwest Iran, the father, Khosro (Hassan Madjooni), looks out the window at what used to be the largest lake in the Middle East, Lake Urmia. “Years ago, we would swim in it. Now, you can only have a dust bath.” Except for the unflaggingly effervescent younger son (Rayan Sarlak), the family all carry a similar blank experience that at first seems to come from the fatigue of a family road trip gone on too long. But then we deduce, detail by detail, that their worn expressions instead signal resignation, of worries that have no resolution. Hit The Road is an account of family separation from the older son, 20-year old Farid (Amin Simiar), who has to flee across the Turkish border for an offense for which he was arrested and released on a bail.We’re never told what Farid’s offense was,...
- 4/20/2022
- MUBI
Bahman Ghobadi, the exiled Iranian filmmaker who has won prizes at Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian and many other international festivals, has penned a letter to the Film Academy saying, “It would be great if we could have one representative from exiled artists.”
Read his missive in full below.
Ghobadi, who has been in exile for the past 13 years, joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2017. In his letter to Academy CEO Dawn Hudson, he talks about exiled artists and suggests that every year one of their movies should be presented to the Academy for Oscar consideration. He notes that the same thing happened for the Tokyo Olympics, where a team of refugee athletes was able to join the competition.
Iran is a country with a complicated filmmaking legacy. One the one hand, it has spawned some of the world’s great directors — Abbas Kiarostami comes to mind...
Read his missive in full below.
Ghobadi, who has been in exile for the past 13 years, joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2017. In his letter to Academy CEO Dawn Hudson, he talks about exiled artists and suggests that every year one of their movies should be presented to the Academy for Oscar consideration. He notes that the same thing happened for the Tokyo Olympics, where a team of refugee athletes was able to join the competition.
Iran is a country with a complicated filmmaking legacy. One the one hand, it has spawned some of the world’s great directors — Abbas Kiarostami comes to mind...
- 9/28/2021
- by Erik Pedersen and Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
The film was a critical hit at this month’s festival.
Picturehouse Entertainment has taken UK-Ireland distribution rights to Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road, which generated significant buzz on its debut in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The distributor has picked up the film from sales agency Celluloid Dreams, with a release date to be announced in due course.
Panahi’s debut feature tells the story of a chaotic but tender family on a road trip across a rugged landscape, in which the family members fuss over a sick dog and get on each others’ nerves.
The director is the...
Picturehouse Entertainment has taken UK-Ireland distribution rights to Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road, which generated significant buzz on its debut in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The distributor has picked up the film from sales agency Celluloid Dreams, with a release date to be announced in due course.
Panahi’s debut feature tells the story of a chaotic but tender family on a road trip across a rugged landscape, in which the family members fuss over a sick dog and get on each others’ nerves.
The director is the...
- 7/20/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
It can take time for certain filmmakers to make their first feature, and at 37 years old, Iranian writer-director Panah Panahi is not necessarily an early bloomer.
Then again, when you’re the child of Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, Crimson Gold, Taxi), one of the world’s most respected auteurs, winner of top awards at the Berlin, Venice and Locarno festivals, and championed by the industry for a stance against the Iranian government that lead to a six-year prison sentence and 20-year ban from filmmaking in his homeland, it makes sense to stop and consider things before trying to direct a movie yourself....
Then again, when you’re the child of Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, Crimson Gold, Taxi), one of the world’s most respected auteurs, winner of top awards at the Berlin, Venice and Locarno festivals, and championed by the industry for a stance against the Iranian government that lead to a six-year prison sentence and 20-year ban from filmmaking in his homeland, it makes sense to stop and consider things before trying to direct a movie yourself....
- 7/12/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
It can take time for certain filmmakers to make their first feature, and at 37 years old, Iranian writer-director Panah Panahi is not necessarily an early bloomer.
Then again, when you’re the child of Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, Crimson Gold, Taxi), one of the world’s most respected auteurs, winner of top awards at the Berlin, Venice and Locarno festivals, and championed by the industry for a stance against the Iranian government that lead to a six-year prison sentence and 20-year ban from filmmaking in his homeland, it makes sense to stop and consider things before trying to direct a movie yourself....
Then again, when you’re the child of Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, Crimson Gold, Taxi), one of the world’s most respected auteurs, winner of top awards at the Berlin, Venice and Locarno festivals, and championed by the industry for a stance against the Iranian government that lead to a six-year prison sentence and 20-year ban from filmmaking in his homeland, it makes sense to stop and consider things before trying to direct a movie yourself....
- 7/12/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In Iran, executions are often carried out by conscripted soldiers, which puts an enormous burden on the shoulders of ordinary citizens. And what are we to make of the condemned, for whom guilt can sometimes be a capricious thing, dictated by a severe and oppressive Islamic regime — the same one that accused Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof of “endangering national security” and “spreading propaganda” against the government?
When Rasoulof returned from Cannes in 2017, following the premiere of his film “A Man of Integrity,” he was banned from filmmaking for life and sentenced to a year in prison. But as a man of integrity himself, the director could not stop. His latest film, “There Is No Evil,” premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where instead of being silenced, the government put on him.
The resulting feat of artistic dissidence runs two and a half hours, comprising four discrete chapters, each...
When Rasoulof returned from Cannes in 2017, following the premiere of his film “A Man of Integrity,” he was banned from filmmaking for life and sentenced to a year in prison. But as a man of integrity himself, the director could not stop. His latest film, “There Is No Evil,” premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where instead of being silenced, the government put on him.
The resulting feat of artistic dissidence runs two and a half hours, comprising four discrete chapters, each...
- 2/28/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Although he is banned from travel outside his home country, and banned from filmmaking period, Iranian director Jafar Panahi continues to persevere, crafting movies that make their way to international festivals and theatrical release. At the New York Film Festival premiere of his latest work, 3 Faces, Panahi said via statement last night that he is “hopeful about the future of Iranian cinema” and offered a word of encouragement to others working under difficult circumstances.
In 2010, Panahi was arrested by the Iranian authorities and barred from making movies. He has continued to work, but still faces a prison sentence which has not been enforced. 3 Faces had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it won the Best Screenplay prize. Kino Lorber acquired the movie which it will release in March next year.
In NY on Monday night, Panahi’s friend, Iranian-American film scholar Dr. Jamsheed Akrami,...
In 2010, Panahi was arrested by the Iranian authorities and barred from making movies. He has continued to work, but still faces a prison sentence which has not been enforced. 3 Faces had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it won the Best Screenplay prize. Kino Lorber acquired the movie which it will release in March next year.
In NY on Monday night, Panahi’s friend, Iranian-American film scholar Dr. Jamsheed Akrami,...
- 10/9/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Jafar Panahi’s drama 3 Faces, which won the best screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is getting a theatrical release in the U.S. after Kino Lorber picked up the feature.
The company will roll out the film, which stars Panahi and Behnaz Jafari, in theaters in March 2019 followed by a VOD and home vide release.
The film is set to have its North American premiere at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival and will have its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival.
3 Faces stars Panahi and Behnaz Jafari, both playing themselves, as they travel to the rural northwest of Iran after receiving a plea for help from a girl whose family has forbid her from attending a drama conservatory in Tehran. Amusing encounters abound, but they soon discover that the local hospitality is rivaled by a desire to protect age-old traditions.
The company will roll out the film, which stars Panahi and Behnaz Jafari, in theaters in March 2019 followed by a VOD and home vide release.
The film is set to have its North American premiere at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival and will have its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival.
3 Faces stars Panahi and Behnaz Jafari, both playing themselves, as they travel to the rural northwest of Iran after receiving a plea for help from a girl whose family has forbid her from attending a drama conservatory in Tehran. Amusing encounters abound, but they soon discover that the local hospitality is rivaled by a desire to protect age-old traditions.
- 8/17/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Jafar Panahi’s critically lauded drama “3 Faces,” which won the best screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival and will have its North American premiere at Toronto.
“3 Faces” marks the fourth feature from Panahi, who since 2010 has been under a 20-year ban imposed by the Iranian government. The film stars Panahi and well-known Iranian actress Behnaz Jafari (both playing themselves) as they embark on an eventful road trip to the rural northwest of Iran to help a girl whose family has forbidden her from attending a drama conservatory in Tehran. They soon discover that the local hospitality is challenged by a desire to protect age-old traditions.
Delivering a realistic portrayal of contemporary Iranian society, “3 Faces” was described by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as a “heartfelt statement of solidarity” and a “quietly fierce act of cinematic defiance.”
The acquisition reteams Panahi with Kino Lorber,...
“3 Faces” marks the fourth feature from Panahi, who since 2010 has been under a 20-year ban imposed by the Iranian government. The film stars Panahi and well-known Iranian actress Behnaz Jafari (both playing themselves) as they embark on an eventful road trip to the rural northwest of Iran to help a girl whose family has forbidden her from attending a drama conservatory in Tehran. They soon discover that the local hospitality is challenged by a desire to protect age-old traditions.
Delivering a realistic portrayal of contemporary Iranian society, “3 Faces” was described by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as a “heartfelt statement of solidarity” and a “quietly fierce act of cinematic defiance.”
The acquisition reteams Panahi with Kino Lorber,...
- 8/17/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Winner for the Camera d’Or in 1995 (Directors’ Fortnight) for The White Balloon, winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury for Crimson Gold in 2003 (my favorite of his), its almost hard to fathom that Three Faces counts as Jafar Panahi‘s first time in Competition — which was especially disappointing since the filmmaker was one of two folks who was banned from traveling to the fest.
Encouraged by the progressive freedom of choice and feminist texts in Cannes this year by way of Jia Zhangke & now this film, this is currently sitting tied for the 2nd top score (14…...
Encouraged by the progressive freedom of choice and feminist texts in Cannes this year by way of Jia Zhangke & now this film, this is currently sitting tied for the 2nd top score (14…...
- 5/13/2018
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
In a wide-ranging press conference held during his first visit to Iran, Oliver Stone expressed appreciation for Iran’s extensive history and recent cinematic accomplishments, criticized American policy toward the Middle East, and voiced his wish that director Jafar Panahi would be allowed to attend the Cannes Film Festival to witness the premiere of his latest film.
Spending a week in Iran as a guest of the Fajr International Film Festival, Stone answered questions from a crowd of approximately 150 Iranian and a few foreign journalists in the Charsou complex in Tehran. He started out by saying that the early part of his visit took him to other Iranian cities, including Isfahan and he was impressed at the hospitality he had been shown and the “warmth” he felt from people of all walks of life. He said he had long been interested in Iran and its 2500-year history and was fortunate...
Spending a week in Iran as a guest of the Fajr International Film Festival, Stone answered questions from a crowd of approximately 150 Iranian and a few foreign journalists in the Charsou complex in Tehran. He started out by saying that the early part of his visit took him to other Iranian cities, including Isfahan and he was impressed at the hospitality he had been shown and the “warmth” he felt from people of all walks of life. He said he had long been interested in Iran and its 2500-year history and was fortunate...
- 4/25/2018
- by Godfrey Cheshire
- Indiewire
In a first for Jafar Panahi, the lauded Iranian filmmaker has a berth in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival with his latest work, Three Faces. What is not clear is if he will be allowed to travel to the Riviera for the honor. In 2010, Panahi was arrested by the Iranian authorities and banned from making films. He has continued to work, but is unable to leave Iran and still faces a prison sentence which has not been enforced. Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux said today that the festival will appeal to Iran for the filmmaker’s presence.
The same goes for Kirill Serebrennikov, the theatrical producer and director who is under house arrest in Russia. He has been invited to the festival in competition for the first time with Leto (Summer) about the life of Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi and the Leningrad rock underground of the 80s.
The same goes for Kirill Serebrennikov, the theatrical producer and director who is under house arrest in Russia. He has been invited to the festival in competition for the first time with Leto (Summer) about the life of Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi and the Leningrad rock underground of the 80s.
- 4/12/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Memento Films takes French rights to Panahi’s film about three actresses.
Paris-based Celluloid Dreams has acquired world sales rights to Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s new film 3 Faces ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
In a first sale for the film, French distributor Memento Films has taken rights for France.
The Celluloid Dreams deal continues a long collaboration between its founding president Hengameh Panahi and the filmmaker, dating back to his first feature The White Balloon, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 1995.
“I started working on Iranian films with Abbas Kiarostami’s films.
Paris-based Celluloid Dreams has acquired world sales rights to Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s new film 3 Faces ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
In a first sale for the film, French distributor Memento Films has taken rights for France.
The Celluloid Dreams deal continues a long collaboration between its founding president Hengameh Panahi and the filmmaker, dating back to his first feature The White Balloon, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 1995.
“I started working on Iranian films with Abbas Kiarostami’s films.
- 4/12/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Quad Cinema
Some of the best films ever made are about Joan of Arc, and they’re now playing at the Quad.
Films starring Alain Delon and American tough guys are screening.
Metrograph
Retrospectives on Grace Jones and Morris Engel take place, while Jafar Panahi’s debut, The White Balloon, plays on Saturday and Sunday.
Quad Cinema
Some of the best films ever made are about Joan of Arc, and they’re now playing at the Quad.
Films starring Alain Delon and American tough guys are screening.
Metrograph
Retrospectives on Grace Jones and Morris Engel take place, while Jafar Panahi’s debut, The White Balloon, plays on Saturday and Sunday.
- 4/6/2018
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Last year’s winner was Léonor Serraille’s Montparnasse Bienvenüe.
Swiss filmmaker Ursula Meier has been named president of the Caméra d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival (May 8-19).
Meier and the jury will award a prize to a director’s first work from the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or Critics’ Week.
Her work includes Home (2008), Sister (2012), which won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, and Shock Waves - Diary of My Mind (2018). In 2014 she took part in Bridges of Sarajevo, a collective work by 13 European filmmakers presented at Cannes in the Official Selection.
The jury will present...
Swiss filmmaker Ursula Meier has been named president of the Caméra d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival (May 8-19).
Meier and the jury will award a prize to a director’s first work from the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or Critics’ Week.
Her work includes Home (2008), Sister (2012), which won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, and Shock Waves - Diary of My Mind (2018). In 2014 she took part in Bridges of Sarajevo, a collective work by 13 European filmmakers presented at Cannes in the Official Selection.
The jury will present...
- 3/27/2018
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
French actress starred in Cannes titles A Self-made Hero and Polisse.
French actress Sandrine Kiberlain has been named president of the Caméra d’or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28).
Kiberlain and jury will award a prize to a director’s first work from the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or Critics’ Week .
Since 1978 the prize has gone to films including Stranger than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch (1984), Suzaku by Naomi Kawase (1997), The White Balloon by Jafar Panahi (1995), Hunger by Steve McQueen (2008) and Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin (2012).
Last year, Houda Benyamina won the Caméra d’or for her film Divines screened in the Directors’ Fortnight.
In a career spanning 25 years and boasting around 40 films, actress Kiberlain first shot to prominence in The Patriots by Éric Rochant (winner of the Romy-Schneider Prize) and En Avoir (Ou Pas) by Laetitia Masson, for which she won the César for most promising actress.
Subsequent turns have...
French actress Sandrine Kiberlain has been named president of the Caméra d’or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28).
Kiberlain and jury will award a prize to a director’s first work from the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or Critics’ Week .
Since 1978 the prize has gone to films including Stranger than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch (1984), Suzaku by Naomi Kawase (1997), The White Balloon by Jafar Panahi (1995), Hunger by Steve McQueen (2008) and Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin (2012).
Last year, Houda Benyamina won the Caméra d’or for her film Divines screened in the Directors’ Fortnight.
In a career spanning 25 years and boasting around 40 films, actress Kiberlain first shot to prominence in The Patriots by Éric Rochant (winner of the Romy-Schneider Prize) and En Avoir (Ou Pas) by Laetitia Masson, for which she won the César for most promising actress.
Subsequent turns have...
- 4/11/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Dear President Trump,
On a recent Saturday, as you were watching your first movie in the White House, an unprecedented wave of protests swept across the country in opposition to your decision to impose a ban on visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
I am not going to focus on the striking irony of foreign travelers being detained in the U.S. airports as you were enjoying Pixar’s “Finding Dory,” the story of a migrant fish detained in this country and aided by aquatic friends of different colors to find her parents.
Instead, I would like to bring to your attention an event of a smaller scale that was eclipsed by the news of the national uproar over your travel ban: the limited opening of an Iranian film, “The Salesman,” inspired by an American play to rave reviews and strong box office numbers.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong...
On a recent Saturday, as you were watching your first movie in the White House, an unprecedented wave of protests swept across the country in opposition to your decision to impose a ban on visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
I am not going to focus on the striking irony of foreign travelers being detained in the U.S. airports as you were enjoying Pixar’s “Finding Dory,” the story of a migrant fish detained in this country and aided by aquatic friends of different colors to find her parents.
Instead, I would like to bring to your attention an event of a smaller scale that was eclipsed by the news of the national uproar over your travel ban: the limited opening of an Iranian film, “The Salesman,” inspired by an American play to rave reviews and strong box office numbers.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong...
- 2/7/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
53rd Antalya International Film Festival in Turkey Announces Winners of its Golden Orange Award“Clair-Obscur” by Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu wins International Competition for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. In the National Competition, it wins Best Actress while “Blue Bicycle” wins for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. “My Father’s Wings” Wins Audience Award for Best Film and National Competition Awards for Best First Feature, Best Actor and the Dr. Avni Tolunay Special Jury Award for Sound Design.
The 53rd International Antalya Film Festival, co-hosted by the Mayor of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and Festival President, Menderes Türel, and Elif Dağdeviren, the Festival’s Director, is a festival which is weathering the storms hitting Turkey. Just months after an attempted government coup, Turkey is a country increasingly involved in the long war in neighboring Syria; it has been the target of several recent terrorist attacks which scare...
The 53rd International Antalya Film Festival, co-hosted by the Mayor of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and Festival President, Menderes Türel, and Elif Dağdeviren, the Festival’s Director, is a festival which is weathering the storms hitting Turkey. Just months after an attempted government coup, Turkey is a country increasingly involved in the long war in neighboring Syria; it has been the target of several recent terrorist attacks which scare...
- 10/24/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Richard Peña on Abbas Kiarostami:"It was such a privilege to know him, and more of a pleasure. Simply one of the great artists of our time." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The last time I spoke with Abbas Kiarostami, who died on Monday, July 4, 2016 in Paris, was when he presented Like Someone In Love, starring Tadashi Okuno and Rin Takanashi at the New York Film Festival in 2012. The director of Ten, Certified Copy, Through The Olive Trees and the Cannes Palme d’Or winning Taste of Cherry also co-wrote Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon and Crimson Gold.
At the press conference for Like Someone In Love, moderated by Richard Peña, I commented to him how very much Yasujiro Ozu is present as absence in his film - through the grandmother, the neighbour, the people talked about and unseen. There is a mother with her two children in Halloween costumes,...
The last time I spoke with Abbas Kiarostami, who died on Monday, July 4, 2016 in Paris, was when he presented Like Someone In Love, starring Tadashi Okuno and Rin Takanashi at the New York Film Festival in 2012. The director of Ten, Certified Copy, Through The Olive Trees and the Cannes Palme d’Or winning Taste of Cherry also co-wrote Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon and Crimson Gold.
At the press conference for Like Someone In Love, moderated by Richard Peña, I commented to him how very much Yasujiro Ozu is present as absence in his film - through the grandmother, the neighbour, the people talked about and unseen. There is a mother with her two children in Halloween costumes,...
- 7/5/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Abbas Kiarostami Photo: Pedro J Pacheco
Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami has died, it was revealed today. The 76 year old auteur, who won the Palme d'Or in 1997 for Taste Of Cherry, had been undergoing treatment fo gastrointestinal cancer in a Paris hospital.
Unlike many of his peers, Kiarostami remained in Iran fter the revolution, endearing himself to its people as he strove to help it develop a unique approach to cinema. He won acclaim for Works like The Wind Will Carry Us and Life, And Nothing More and Shirin, and enjoyed a second career as a producer, helping to launch Jafar Panahi's carer with The White Balloon. His last two films, however, were made abroad - Certified Copy in Italy and Like Someone In Love in Japan.
"Abbas Kiarostami's deep and unique view on life and his call to human beings for peace and friendship will remain a lasting achievement,...
Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami has died, it was revealed today. The 76 year old auteur, who won the Palme d'Or in 1997 for Taste Of Cherry, had been undergoing treatment fo gastrointestinal cancer in a Paris hospital.
Unlike many of his peers, Kiarostami remained in Iran fter the revolution, endearing himself to its people as he strove to help it develop a unique approach to cinema. He won acclaim for Works like The Wind Will Carry Us and Life, And Nothing More and Shirin, and enjoyed a second career as a producer, helping to launch Jafar Panahi's carer with The White Balloon. His last two films, however, were made abroad - Certified Copy in Italy and Like Someone In Love in Japan.
"Abbas Kiarostami's deep and unique view on life and his call to human beings for peace and friendship will remain a lasting achievement,...
- 7/5/2016
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has died in Paris at the age of 76. The acclaimed helmer had been receiving treatment for gastrointestinal cancer and had traveled to France for a series of operations.
The Tehran-born Kiarostami first started making shorts, documentaries and local films back in the 1970s and stayed in Iran after the revolution where he made the famed Koker trilogy. He first came to prominence on the international scene with 1990's "Close-Up" in which he got the actual people in a real-life incident to re-enact events in a man defrauds a family and ultimately went to trial.
His 1997 film "Taste of Cherry," about a man searching for someone to bury him after he commits suicide, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He followed that with "The Wind Will Carry Us," "Ten," "Tickets" and "Shirin" along with his most recent and widely viewed films - the Juliette Binoche...
The Tehran-born Kiarostami first started making shorts, documentaries and local films back in the 1970s and stayed in Iran after the revolution where he made the famed Koker trilogy. He first came to prominence on the international scene with 1990's "Close-Up" in which he got the actual people in a real-life incident to re-enact events in a man defrauds a family and ultimately went to trial.
His 1997 film "Taste of Cherry," about a man searching for someone to bury him after he commits suicide, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He followed that with "The Wind Will Carry Us," "Ten," "Tickets" and "Shirin" along with his most recent and widely viewed films - the Juliette Binoche...
- 7/4/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
The Tucson’s Loft Film Fest starts today and runs until Sunday October 25. The program will bring some of the best works from around the globe to Tucson, many of which will be have their local premier during the festival.
The acclaimed drama "Court," a quietly devastating portrait of political injustice involving an elderly folk singer facing persecution for his art, is India’s official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as the winner of the Lion of the Future Award for director Chaitanya Tamhane at the Venice Film Festival. This is the film’s Tucson Premiere.
"Mustang" France’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar and winner of the Europa Cinemas Label award at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, is a haunting portrait of five young sisters struggling to come of age under highly unusual circumstances in a remote Turkish coastal village. The film makes its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
The Loft Film Fest 2015 will also showcase numerous top prize winners from major film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice and more.
The highly-anticipated new British drama "45 Years," directed by Andrew Haigh ("Weekend"), will have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest. This riveting and melancholy tale of a long-married couple confronting a dark secret from their past, has generated major Oscar buzz and garnered the Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival for its celebrated stars, Charlotte Rampling ("Swimming Pool") and Tom Courtenay ("Doctor Zhivago").
The moving Italian drama "Mia Madre"from acclaimed filmmaker Nanni Moretti ("The Son’s Room"), stars Margherita Buy ( "Days and Clouds") and John Turturro ("O Brother, Where Are Thou?") and tells the story of a harried filmmaker juggling with production of her new film with caring for her dying mother. Winner of the prestigious Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival, the film will also have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
"Taxi" the crowd-pleasing comedy/drama from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, ("The White Balloon") follows the filmmaker himself as he assumes the role of taxi driver for a number of diverse citizens in his home country, learning about their lives as he ferries them through the city. Winner of the Fipresci Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival,"Taxi" makes its Tucson Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
Just a few of the other major international festival award winners hitting the screen at the Loft Film Fest include Pedro Costa’s "Horse Money" (winner of the Locarno International Film Festival award for Best Director); Sebastian Silva’s "Nasty Baby," starring Kristin Wiig (winner of the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival) and "In Transit," the final film from legendary documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles (winner of a Best Documentary Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival).
Many more prize-winning features, documentaries and short films will light up the screen at The 2015 Loft Film Fest. In addition to acclaimed films, the fest brings an incredible line-up of filmmakers and special guests to Tucson! Rita Moreno ("West Side Story"), Alfonso Arau ( " Like Water for Chocolate.""Three Amigos"), Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (10th Anniversary Screening of "Brokeback Mountain"), Bobcat Goldthwait ("Call Me Lucky"), Michael Joplin (brother of Janis Joplin with the doc "Janis: Little Girl Blue"), Andrea B. Scott ("Florence, Az"), Francesco Clerici ("Hand Gestures"), Jessica Cox & Nick Spark ("Right-Footed") and Justin Johnson ("Double Digits") are among the guests who will be on hand to present films alongside critically-acclaimed films selected from prestigious festivals around the globe. For more information and to purchase tickets and passes, please visit: www.loftfilmfest.org.
The acclaimed drama "Court," a quietly devastating portrait of political injustice involving an elderly folk singer facing persecution for his art, is India’s official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as the winner of the Lion of the Future Award for director Chaitanya Tamhane at the Venice Film Festival. This is the film’s Tucson Premiere.
"Mustang" France’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar and winner of the Europa Cinemas Label award at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, is a haunting portrait of five young sisters struggling to come of age under highly unusual circumstances in a remote Turkish coastal village. The film makes its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
The Loft Film Fest 2015 will also showcase numerous top prize winners from major film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice and more.
The highly-anticipated new British drama "45 Years," directed by Andrew Haigh ("Weekend"), will have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest. This riveting and melancholy tale of a long-married couple confronting a dark secret from their past, has generated major Oscar buzz and garnered the Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival for its celebrated stars, Charlotte Rampling ("Swimming Pool") and Tom Courtenay ("Doctor Zhivago").
The moving Italian drama "Mia Madre"from acclaimed filmmaker Nanni Moretti ("The Son’s Room"), stars Margherita Buy ( "Days and Clouds") and John Turturro ("O Brother, Where Are Thou?") and tells the story of a harried filmmaker juggling with production of her new film with caring for her dying mother. Winner of the prestigious Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival, the film will also have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
"Taxi" the crowd-pleasing comedy/drama from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, ("The White Balloon") follows the filmmaker himself as he assumes the role of taxi driver for a number of diverse citizens in his home country, learning about their lives as he ferries them through the city. Winner of the Fipresci Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival,"Taxi" makes its Tucson Premiere at The Loft Film Fest.
Just a few of the other major international festival award winners hitting the screen at the Loft Film Fest include Pedro Costa’s "Horse Money" (winner of the Locarno International Film Festival award for Best Director); Sebastian Silva’s "Nasty Baby," starring Kristin Wiig (winner of the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival) and "In Transit," the final film from legendary documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles (winner of a Best Documentary Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival).
Many more prize-winning features, documentaries and short films will light up the screen at The 2015 Loft Film Fest. In addition to acclaimed films, the fest brings an incredible line-up of filmmakers and special guests to Tucson! Rita Moreno ("West Side Story"), Alfonso Arau ( " Like Water for Chocolate.""Three Amigos"), Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (10th Anniversary Screening of "Brokeback Mountain"), Bobcat Goldthwait ("Call Me Lucky"), Michael Joplin (brother of Janis Joplin with the doc "Janis: Little Girl Blue"), Andrea B. Scott ("Florence, Az"), Francesco Clerici ("Hand Gestures"), Jessica Cox & Nick Spark ("Right-Footed") and Justin Johnson ("Double Digits") are among the guests who will be on hand to present films alongside critically-acclaimed films selected from prestigious festivals around the globe. For more information and to purchase tickets and passes, please visit: www.loftfilmfest.org.
- 10/21/2015
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Iconic actress Rita Moreno ("West Side Story"), internationally-renowned filmmaker/actor Alfonso Arau ("Like Water for Chocolate") and Oscar-winning screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana ("Brokeback Mountain"), will be the special guests this October at the 6th annual Loft Film Fest to take place at The Loft Cinema in Tucson, Arizona.
The festival will feature an incredible array of legendary, award-winning performers, filmmakers and screenwriters, as well as a stellar program of critically-acclaimed films selected from prestigious festivals around the globe, including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice.
The film selection includes the documentary "Hitchcock/Truffaut," which will premiere at Tiff, the Sundance comedy hit "Entertainment" (starring Michael Cera and John C. Reilly), and the latest film from celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi, "Taxi" (winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin).
The festival will also host “under the stars” screenings of Hollywood classics like "Three Amigos" (starring Alfonso Arau) and Hitchcock’s "Psycho" in the Loft parking lot, presented on The Loft’s new, state-of-the-art outdoor screen and projection system. On opening night, October 21, the festival will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic comedy "Back to the Future" with a special "Back to the Future Day" double feature of the first two films in the trilogy. Live '50s music, themed-food, and other surprises will make the evening even more memorable.
The Guests
Rita Moreno is a legendary star of stage, screen and television, and is one of only 12 performers in history to be classified as an Egot winner (winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). She is one of only four women to have achieved this landmark status, as well as the first Hispanic performer to be thusly honored. Over the course of her groundbreaking career, Ms. Moreno has starred in such iconic classics as "Singin’ in the Rain," "The King and I" and "West Side Story" (for which she won the 1962 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award), performed on Broadway in hits like "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and "The Ritz" (for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress), appeared on such successful television shows as "Oz, The Electric Company" and "The Muppet Show" (for which she was awarded a 1977 Emmy), recorded albums (including her Grammy-winning 1973 album for children, "The Electric Company") and written a New York Times best-selling memoir, 2014’s Rita Moreno: A Memoir. She has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and in December, 2015, she will receive a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. Ms. Moreno will appear at The Loft Film Fest for a tribute that will include a career highlight reel, an onstage Q&A, the presentation of a 2015 Loft Lifetime Achievement Award and a screening of "West Side Story."
Alfonso Arau, one of the legends of Mexican cinema, is the internationally-renowned director of such acclaimed films as " Zapata: The Dream of a Hero," "A Walk in the Clouds" and the arthouse smash, "Like Water for Chocolate" (winner of the 1992 Ariel Awards for Best Picture and Best Director). Over the course of his distinguished career, he has also made numerous memorable appearances as an actor in such classics as "The Wild Bunch," "El Topo" and the Tucson-shot comedy "Three Amigos" (in the unforgettable role of El Guapo). At The Loft Film Fest, Mr. Arau will also receive a tribute that will include a career highlight reel, an onstage Q&A, presentation of a 2015 Lofty Lifetime Achievement Award and a screening of "Like Water for Chocolate." Filmmaker/artist/actress Yareli Arizmendi (star of "Like Water for Chocolate") and filmmaker/artist/actor Sergio Arau ("Day without a Mexicans"), the son of Mr. Arau, will also appear at this event. The Loft Film Fest will also present an “under the stars” screening of "Three Amigos" on the Loft’s new outdoor screen in the parking lot.
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana are the Academy Award-winning co-screenwriters and co-producers of the groundbreaking hit film, "Brokeback Mountain." Mr. Murtry is a prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning author (for the best-selling novel Lonesome Dove) and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "The Last Picture Show" (based on his novel). Ms. Ossana is an acclaimed writer and Oscar-nominated producer (for "Brokeback Mountain"). The Loft Film Fest will present a special 10thanniversary screening of "Brokeback Mountain," and Mr. McMurtry and Ms. Ossana will participate in an onstage Q&A to discuss the film’s lasting impact and legacy.
The Films
"Hitchcock/Truffaut," a new documentary by Kent Jones, uses the 1962 meeting between the two legendary directors, Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, as a jumping off point for an exploration of the endlessly fascinating work of Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense. After premiering at Cannes earlier this year, the film will have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest, following its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The Loft Film Fest will also present an “under the stars” screening of Hitchcock’s classic 1960 scare-fest, "Psycho," in the parking lot on The Loft’s beautiful new outdoor screen!
"Entertainment," a hilarious new dark comedy from Rick Alverson, follows the misadventures of an aging, broken-down comedian playing a string of disastrous shows in the Mojave Desert while en route to meet his estranged daughter. Starring Michael Cera, John C. Reilly and Gregg Turkington (aka comedian Neil Hamburger), "Entertainment" makes its Tucson debut at The Loft Film Fest following successful screenings at Sundance and SXSW.
"Taxi," the new film from celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi ("Offside," "The White Balloon"), features Panahi himself starring as a taxi driver in Tehran whose conversations with the diverse passengers he picks up are hilarious, enlightening and heartbreaking. Winner of the Golden Bear and the Fipresci Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Taxi will be making its Arizona debut at The Loft Film Fest.
The festival will feature an incredible array of legendary, award-winning performers, filmmakers and screenwriters, as well as a stellar program of critically-acclaimed films selected from prestigious festivals around the globe, including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice.
The film selection includes the documentary "Hitchcock/Truffaut," which will premiere at Tiff, the Sundance comedy hit "Entertainment" (starring Michael Cera and John C. Reilly), and the latest film from celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi, "Taxi" (winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin).
The festival will also host “under the stars” screenings of Hollywood classics like "Three Amigos" (starring Alfonso Arau) and Hitchcock’s "Psycho" in the Loft parking lot, presented on The Loft’s new, state-of-the-art outdoor screen and projection system. On opening night, October 21, the festival will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic comedy "Back to the Future" with a special "Back to the Future Day" double feature of the first two films in the trilogy. Live '50s music, themed-food, and other surprises will make the evening even more memorable.
The Guests
Rita Moreno is a legendary star of stage, screen and television, and is one of only 12 performers in history to be classified as an Egot winner (winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). She is one of only four women to have achieved this landmark status, as well as the first Hispanic performer to be thusly honored. Over the course of her groundbreaking career, Ms. Moreno has starred in such iconic classics as "Singin’ in the Rain," "The King and I" and "West Side Story" (for which she won the 1962 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award), performed on Broadway in hits like "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and "The Ritz" (for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress), appeared on such successful television shows as "Oz, The Electric Company" and "The Muppet Show" (for which she was awarded a 1977 Emmy), recorded albums (including her Grammy-winning 1973 album for children, "The Electric Company") and written a New York Times best-selling memoir, 2014’s Rita Moreno: A Memoir. She has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and in December, 2015, she will receive a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. Ms. Moreno will appear at The Loft Film Fest for a tribute that will include a career highlight reel, an onstage Q&A, the presentation of a 2015 Loft Lifetime Achievement Award and a screening of "West Side Story."
Alfonso Arau, one of the legends of Mexican cinema, is the internationally-renowned director of such acclaimed films as " Zapata: The Dream of a Hero," "A Walk in the Clouds" and the arthouse smash, "Like Water for Chocolate" (winner of the 1992 Ariel Awards for Best Picture and Best Director). Over the course of his distinguished career, he has also made numerous memorable appearances as an actor in such classics as "The Wild Bunch," "El Topo" and the Tucson-shot comedy "Three Amigos" (in the unforgettable role of El Guapo). At The Loft Film Fest, Mr. Arau will also receive a tribute that will include a career highlight reel, an onstage Q&A, presentation of a 2015 Lofty Lifetime Achievement Award and a screening of "Like Water for Chocolate." Filmmaker/artist/actress Yareli Arizmendi (star of "Like Water for Chocolate") and filmmaker/artist/actor Sergio Arau ("Day without a Mexicans"), the son of Mr. Arau, will also appear at this event. The Loft Film Fest will also present an “under the stars” screening of "Three Amigos" on the Loft’s new outdoor screen in the parking lot.
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana are the Academy Award-winning co-screenwriters and co-producers of the groundbreaking hit film, "Brokeback Mountain." Mr. Murtry is a prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning author (for the best-selling novel Lonesome Dove) and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "The Last Picture Show" (based on his novel). Ms. Ossana is an acclaimed writer and Oscar-nominated producer (for "Brokeback Mountain"). The Loft Film Fest will present a special 10thanniversary screening of "Brokeback Mountain," and Mr. McMurtry and Ms. Ossana will participate in an onstage Q&A to discuss the film’s lasting impact and legacy.
The Films
"Hitchcock/Truffaut," a new documentary by Kent Jones, uses the 1962 meeting between the two legendary directors, Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, as a jumping off point for an exploration of the endlessly fascinating work of Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense. After premiering at Cannes earlier this year, the film will have its Arizona Premiere at The Loft Film Fest, following its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The Loft Film Fest will also present an “under the stars” screening of Hitchcock’s classic 1960 scare-fest, "Psycho," in the parking lot on The Loft’s beautiful new outdoor screen!
"Entertainment," a hilarious new dark comedy from Rick Alverson, follows the misadventures of an aging, broken-down comedian playing a string of disastrous shows in the Mojave Desert while en route to meet his estranged daughter. Starring Michael Cera, John C. Reilly and Gregg Turkington (aka comedian Neil Hamburger), "Entertainment" makes its Tucson debut at The Loft Film Fest following successful screenings at Sundance and SXSW.
"Taxi," the new film from celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi ("Offside," "The White Balloon"), features Panahi himself starring as a taxi driver in Tehran whose conversations with the diverse passengers he picks up are hilarious, enlightening and heartbreaking. Winner of the Golden Bear and the Fipresci Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Taxi will be making its Arizona debut at The Loft Film Fest.
- 8/19/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
All week our writers will debate: Which was the greatest film year of the past half century. Click here for a complete list of our essays. When I picked this year, it was under the mistaken assumption that we were writing on the best film of a year, and not the best film year in general. But having realized the mistake, I stand by my choice. 1995 is still the best! Straight up: 1995 wins, because Todd Haynes’s “[Safe]" is still my favorite film to have come out since, Idk, I’ve been alive. It’s deeply self-conscious about genre, while still managing to not really resemble anything I’ve ever seen. It’s the perfect film about L.A.; about how space is mobilized in cinema; about the environment; about Gothic horror; about white femininity; about film bodies; about falling in love in the movies. It’s Todd Motherf*#@$^ Haynes’s best film.
- 4/30/2015
- by Jane Hu
- Hitfix
In the political discourse, when a country addresses another, whether in positive or negative terms, such statements often fail to differentiate between said country’s government and its people, between the government’s policies and the people’s unheard sentiment towards these.
While useful in the theoretical realm in which politics take place, these generalizations create a distorted image of the foreign nation fed by assumptions and dangerously insensitive stereotypes. It’s much easier for rulers to justify their actions if the adversary is made out to look like an irredeemable villain. Sensationalism and ignorance are weapons far more destructive than missiles, because once the smoke dissipates hatred remains.
On that note, it should be clear that the Iranian people are not the Iranian government. Their rich cultural history is not reflected in the actions of those in power, but in the prevailing elegance and allure of their artwork. Remarkable poets, musicians, painters, and, what we are mostly concerned with here, filmmakers.
The history of Iranian cinema is vast and has survived the many transitions and troubling periods the country has experienced. Even more impressive is the fact that as masterfully as Iranian filmmakers and actors understand the medium, they have never watered down their individuality for the sake of mainstream international success. Instead, they’ve managed to create their unique cinematic language that aligns with their idiosyncrasies and that is not silenced despite the hardships they face, but finds a way around censorship or defies it altogether.
Certainly not a definitive list, the following collection of films aims to be an introduction to the compelling and diverse voices within this captivating national cinema and to encourage you to seek out other films in the future. There are films here that are concerned with rural and working class lifestyles, others that focus on the traditions of ethnic minorities, those that deal with the modern middle class, and also several works denouncing the country’s political situation and the oppression that comes with it.
There are also some films that are note worthy even if they don’t easily fit within the parameters of what an Iranian film is.
Special Mentions:
-Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour and her outstanding Farsi-language debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” a visually striking vampire story set in a fictional Iranian town.
-American filmmaker Till Schauder and his documentary “The Iran Job,” which follows Kevin Sheppard, an American professional basketball player in Iran, and uses his experience to build cultural bridges between the two countries.
-Farhadi’s “The Past,” which though is not precisely an Iranian story, continues to show the director’s specific talent for greatly written, puzzling narratives both in his home country and abroad.
-Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's “Chicken with Plums,” a gorgeously whimsical and darkly comedic love story set in pre-revolutionary Tehran starring Mathieu Amalric.
Lastly, in honor of Nowruz or Persian New Year, which is a peaceful celebration of renewal and rebirth that takes place from March 20-24 in Iran and Iranian communities around the world, let’s remember the deeply moving and wise words that Asghar Farhadi gifted us during his acceptance speech on Oscar night a few years back. No one could have said it better than him.
“At this time many Iranians all over the world are watching us, and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award, or a film, or a filmmaker, but because at a time in which talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people that respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment. Thank you so much.” –Director Asghar Farhadi after winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for “A Separation” on February 26, 2012
1. "About Elly" (2009)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
In Farhadi's tense psychological drama a casual trip to the sea evolves into a subtly plotted mystery. The director's depiction of the Iranian middle class in such a fascinatingly unexpected story connected with both local and international audiences earning him awards at home and abroad, among them Berlin's Silver Bear.
*The Cinema Guild will release the film theatrically on April 17, 2015
2. "Baran" (2001)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Taking a look at the diverse ethnic groups that coexist in Iran, the film follows a love story between a man and a young Afghan woman who must pretend to be a man in order to work. Eliciting truly naturalistic performance from his cast Majidi gives voice to his almost silent protagonist, a woman caught up in a system designed by men.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch
3. "Children of Heaven" (1997)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Iran's first ever Academy Award nominated film is also Majidi's most renowned work. Innocence permeates this sweet story about two siblings from a working class family trying to find a pair of missing shoes. Their adventure delivers valuable life lessons that are at once heartwarming and profound. Unquestionably a classic.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Lionsgate
4. "Closed Curtain" (2013)
Dir. Jafar Panahi & Kambuzia Partovi
In this enigmatic observation on repression and surveillance an anonymous screenwriter, played by co-director Kambuzia Partovi, hides with his dog in a secluded location. Eventually, as other surprising characters appear, the film becomes a complex dance between reality and fabrication. Both filmmakers had their passports confiscated by the Iranian government due to the subversive content of the film.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
5. "Close-Up" (1990)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
In one of the greatest examples of reality and fiction blending in almost seamless ways, Abbas Kiarostami's masterwork poses complex questions about identity. When a film buff impersonates his favorite director, who happens to Mohsen Makhmalbaf , a series of events unravel as he plans his next, fake, film. Surreally enough the film is based on a true story and stars the actual people involved. It's all brilliantly meta.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Criterion
6. "The Color of Paradise" (1999)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Though rejected by his father, a young blind boy rejoices in nature’s beauty and tries to understand the meaning of his struggles with the help of a mentor with the same condition. Showcasing Iran’s visually stunning rural landscapes and delicately embedding with philosophical concerns, Majidi’s poetic film delivers wisdom in wondrously unassuming ways.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
7. "The Cow" (1969)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Considered a turning point in the nation’s cinematic history, this black-and-white work revolves around a man’s devotion for his cow and how its disappearance drives him into madness. While seemingly simple in its conception, Mehrjui manages to compellingly highlight the country’s traditional lifestyles.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
8. "Fireworks Wednesday" (2006)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Intimate conflicts in the Iranian middle class are Farhadi’s expertise and this domestic drama, set fittingly during the celebrations prior to the Persian New Year, is no exception. When a soon-to-be bride in need of money for her wedding gets a job cleaning a family’s house, their secrets begin to unravel through their interaction and confrontations.
*Available on DVD from Facets
9. "Gabbeh" (1996)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Taking its name from a type of Persian carpet, this stunningly evocative fable is adorned with mysticism and magical realist elements that shine through its colorful visual palette. Gabbeh, a young nomadic woman who is likely the incarnation of one of these traditional rugs, falls in love with horseman, but her community follows beliefs that hinder her desire.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
10. "The Green Wave" (2010)
Dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi
Told through striking animated sequences, interviews and footage from the protests, this documentary constructs a bold portrait of the 2009 Green Movement following Ahmadinejad’s reelection. The regime's strong grip over its citizens is exposed, but the spirit of the Iranian people demanding change is even stronger.
*Available on DVD from Strand Releasing
11. "Hamoun" (1990)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Underscored by subdued comedy and poignant dream sequences, Mehrjui’s visionary drama centers on the decaying relationship between Hamoun, a businessman with hopes of becoming a writer, and his wife Mahshid, a painter. Insanity takes over him when she decides to divorce him because of his angry outbursts. A series of drastic occurrences ensue.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
12. "Kandahar" (2001)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Despite being set in Afghanistan, this Iranian production is a powerful achievement that unveils the unjust treatment of women, not only under the Taliban’s control, but also in the entire region. Nafas, an Afghan women living in Canada, decides to return to her homeland to find her depressed sister. Through this dangerous journey she discovers much more about life in the war-torn country than she expected.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
13. "Leila" (1997)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Starting famous Iranian actress Leila Hatami in one her earliest roles as a married woman unable to have children, this conjugal drama explores the role of women within Iranian society. Leila’s husband, Reza (played by “The Past” star Ali Mosaffa), loves her, but his mother wants him to get another wife that can give him a son. The title character is divided between her happiness and what others think is best for her marriage.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
14. "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (2013)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Rasoulof’s brave and searing political statement was shot illegally going against the20-year-ban from filmmaking imposed on him by the Iranian government. It denounces the terrifying lack of freedom of expression via the thrilling story a pair of writers risking it all to protect an incendiary manuscript that authorities are eager to destroy.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
15. "Marooned in Iraq" (2002)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Highlighting the rich Kurdish culture, both in Iran and Iraq, Ghobadi’s film is set in the aftermath of the ravaging Gulf War. Marooned is an elderly man who must travel across the mountainous landscape that divides the two countries to find his ex-wife. While portraying the horrors of war in an affecting manner, the film is also a life-affirming work that finds hope in the most surprising places.
*Available on DVD from Wellspring
16. "My Tehran for Sale"
Dir. Granaz Moussavi
Devastating and current, this debut feature from renowned poet turned filmmaker Granaz Moussavi is a hard-hitting critique on the blatant criminalization of artists in Iran. An actress banned from her profession questions whether she should remain in the country or flee. Getting to safety means leaving everything she knows behind. There are no easy options for her.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
17. "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (2009)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Music as the banner of freedom is the focus of Ghobadi’s film about the underground rock scene in Tehran. Secular music is essentially forbidden, and playing in public is considered a criminal act punished with prison. Crafted between reality and fiction, this quasi-documentary takes a look at a group of young musicians desperate to express themselves through their art.
*Available on DVD from Mpi Home Video
18. "Offside" (2006)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Attending sporting events is prohibited for women in Iran, but that doesn’t stop many of them who go as far as to dress like men to get in. Panahi’s touching and insightful film takes place during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, and follows several girls who despite being excluded cheer for their team as joyfully as any fan would.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
19. "Persepolis" (2007)
Dir. Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, this French-language marvel is based on Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel by the same name. With eye-popping hand-drawn animation, the film revisits the director’s childhood and teenage years in Iran during the events leading up to the Islamic Revolution. It’s a love letter to the bittersweet memories of the Iran Satrapi knew.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
20. "A Separation" (2011)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Dealing with a marriage in turmoil facing the country's peculiar judicial system, Farhadi’s masterpiece is the most acclaimed film in the history of Iranian cinema and earned the country's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay for its enthralling thriller-like narrative that grips the audience until its unnerving conclusion. A must see!
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
21. "The Song of Sparrows" (2008)
Dir. Majid Majidi
When Karim (played by Berlin’s Silver Bear Winner Reza Naji), an ostrich farm worker, is forced to find a new job in the city to pay for his daughter’s hearing aid, Iran’s rural and urban realms collide. Thanks to the captivating grace that characterizes Majidi’s films, poverty and misfortune are observed here not with pity but with an optimistic and undefeated perspective.
*Available on DVD from E1 Entertainment
22." Taste of Cherry" (1997)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
This quiet and minimalist meditation on death and the simple joys of its antithesis is the first and only Iranian film to have won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes. Kiarostami follows a man who has decided to commit suicide and is looking for someone to help him achieve this. However, those he recruits along the way come with their own views on the meaning of our existence and attempt to persuade him to reconsider.
*Available on DVD from Criterion
23. "Ten" (2002)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
A female cabbie drives through the streets of Tehran picking up an array of characters that via their casual conversations shine a light on the Iranian society’s expectations of women. Constructed of ten individual scenes in which the only constant is the driver, this heavily improvised and peculiarly shot cinematic experiment is a work of fiction embedded with truth in every frame.
*Available on DVD from Zeitgeist Films
24. "This is Not a Film" (2011)
Dir. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb & Jafar Panahi
In an effort to tell his story despite being banned from filmmaking and under house arrest, filmmaker Jafar Panahi takes his frustration and ingeniously turns it into a courageous visual statement. Whether is shooting video with his cell phone or blocking an imaginary scene in his living room, his passion for storytelling is resilient even when confronting such suffocating censorship.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Palisades Tartan
25. "A Time for Drunken Horses" (2000)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
With the snow-covered Zagros Mountains as backdrop, Ghobadi’s debut feature tells the story of Ayoub, a young Kurdish boy who must provide for his siblings after their mother’s death. Added to the already difficult circumstances, his handicapped brother desperately needs a surgery. This pushes the heroic kid to persevere against all odds in the hostile environment.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
26. "Turtles Can Fly" (2004)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Commanding a cast made almost entirely of children Ghobadi sets his film in an Iraqi Kurdish refugee camp just before the American occupation of 2003. Making a living by clearing the hazardous minefields that surround them, a group of orphan children create a small community to survive. The atrocities of war are ever-present, but like in most of the director’s works, the triumph of the human spirit is at the film's core.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
27. "The White Balloon" (1995)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Written by Kiarostami and directed by Panahi this is another film set during the important Persian New Year celebrations. It centers on a little girl trying to convince her parents to buy her a goldfish and who gets in a couple mishaps along the way. With utmost innocence, the seemingly simple premise manages to be a charming delight that showcases family values and ancient virtues with a nice dose of humor. It’s an uplifting gem.
*Sadly the film is not curently availble in any format in the U.S. Hopefully Criterion or another distributor will fix this soon.
28. "The White Meadows" (2009)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
While ethereal, almost otherworldly imagery achieved by cinematographer Ebrahim Ghafori is reason enough to see this film, Rasoulof’s poetic storytelling elevates it to even greater intellectual heights. By using a barren coastal land and its inhabitant as a metaphor for the intolerance and injustice that many of his compatriots -creative people in particular - confront everyday, the filmmaker denounces these evils through melancholic beauty.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
29. "The Willow Tree" (2005)
Dir. Majid Majidi
A writer, who had been blinded in an accident as a child, regains his vision as a middle aged adult only to be challenged by a world that has become foreign to him. At first, his miraculous new situation appears to be an answer to a prayer, but Majidi soon shows us how vision can become a curse in this spiritual drama about fate and regret. Exquisitely shot and sporting visceral performances, the film is both heart-rending and though provoking.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Films
30. "The Wind Will Carry Us" (1999)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Taking the audience on a trip to an untainted region of Iran where tradition hasn’t yet been disrupted by modernity, the acclaimed director crafted another unforgettable experience. Sublimely executed, the film joins four journalists pretending to be engineers as they document the funerary rituals of the local Kurdish people. More than learning about them as researchers, their interactions force them to engage on a much more human level.
*Availble on Blu-ray and DVD from Cohen Media Group...
While useful in the theoretical realm in which politics take place, these generalizations create a distorted image of the foreign nation fed by assumptions and dangerously insensitive stereotypes. It’s much easier for rulers to justify their actions if the adversary is made out to look like an irredeemable villain. Sensationalism and ignorance are weapons far more destructive than missiles, because once the smoke dissipates hatred remains.
On that note, it should be clear that the Iranian people are not the Iranian government. Their rich cultural history is not reflected in the actions of those in power, but in the prevailing elegance and allure of their artwork. Remarkable poets, musicians, painters, and, what we are mostly concerned with here, filmmakers.
The history of Iranian cinema is vast and has survived the many transitions and troubling periods the country has experienced. Even more impressive is the fact that as masterfully as Iranian filmmakers and actors understand the medium, they have never watered down their individuality for the sake of mainstream international success. Instead, they’ve managed to create their unique cinematic language that aligns with their idiosyncrasies and that is not silenced despite the hardships they face, but finds a way around censorship or defies it altogether.
Certainly not a definitive list, the following collection of films aims to be an introduction to the compelling and diverse voices within this captivating national cinema and to encourage you to seek out other films in the future. There are films here that are concerned with rural and working class lifestyles, others that focus on the traditions of ethnic minorities, those that deal with the modern middle class, and also several works denouncing the country’s political situation and the oppression that comes with it.
There are also some films that are note worthy even if they don’t easily fit within the parameters of what an Iranian film is.
Special Mentions:
-Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour and her outstanding Farsi-language debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” a visually striking vampire story set in a fictional Iranian town.
-American filmmaker Till Schauder and his documentary “The Iran Job,” which follows Kevin Sheppard, an American professional basketball player in Iran, and uses his experience to build cultural bridges between the two countries.
-Farhadi’s “The Past,” which though is not precisely an Iranian story, continues to show the director’s specific talent for greatly written, puzzling narratives both in his home country and abroad.
-Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's “Chicken with Plums,” a gorgeously whimsical and darkly comedic love story set in pre-revolutionary Tehran starring Mathieu Amalric.
Lastly, in honor of Nowruz or Persian New Year, which is a peaceful celebration of renewal and rebirth that takes place from March 20-24 in Iran and Iranian communities around the world, let’s remember the deeply moving and wise words that Asghar Farhadi gifted us during his acceptance speech on Oscar night a few years back. No one could have said it better than him.
“At this time many Iranians all over the world are watching us, and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award, or a film, or a filmmaker, but because at a time in which talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people that respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment. Thank you so much.” –Director Asghar Farhadi after winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for “A Separation” on February 26, 2012
1. "About Elly" (2009)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
In Farhadi's tense psychological drama a casual trip to the sea evolves into a subtly plotted mystery. The director's depiction of the Iranian middle class in such a fascinatingly unexpected story connected with both local and international audiences earning him awards at home and abroad, among them Berlin's Silver Bear.
*The Cinema Guild will release the film theatrically on April 17, 2015
2. "Baran" (2001)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Taking a look at the diverse ethnic groups that coexist in Iran, the film follows a love story between a man and a young Afghan woman who must pretend to be a man in order to work. Eliciting truly naturalistic performance from his cast Majidi gives voice to his almost silent protagonist, a woman caught up in a system designed by men.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch
3. "Children of Heaven" (1997)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Iran's first ever Academy Award nominated film is also Majidi's most renowned work. Innocence permeates this sweet story about two siblings from a working class family trying to find a pair of missing shoes. Their adventure delivers valuable life lessons that are at once heartwarming and profound. Unquestionably a classic.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Lionsgate
4. "Closed Curtain" (2013)
Dir. Jafar Panahi & Kambuzia Partovi
In this enigmatic observation on repression and surveillance an anonymous screenwriter, played by co-director Kambuzia Partovi, hides with his dog in a secluded location. Eventually, as other surprising characters appear, the film becomes a complex dance between reality and fabrication. Both filmmakers had their passports confiscated by the Iranian government due to the subversive content of the film.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
5. "Close-Up" (1990)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
In one of the greatest examples of reality and fiction blending in almost seamless ways, Abbas Kiarostami's masterwork poses complex questions about identity. When a film buff impersonates his favorite director, who happens to Mohsen Makhmalbaf , a series of events unravel as he plans his next, fake, film. Surreally enough the film is based on a true story and stars the actual people involved. It's all brilliantly meta.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Criterion
6. "The Color of Paradise" (1999)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Though rejected by his father, a young blind boy rejoices in nature’s beauty and tries to understand the meaning of his struggles with the help of a mentor with the same condition. Showcasing Iran’s visually stunning rural landscapes and delicately embedding with philosophical concerns, Majidi’s poetic film delivers wisdom in wondrously unassuming ways.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
7. "The Cow" (1969)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Considered a turning point in the nation’s cinematic history, this black-and-white work revolves around a man’s devotion for his cow and how its disappearance drives him into madness. While seemingly simple in its conception, Mehrjui manages to compellingly highlight the country’s traditional lifestyles.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
8. "Fireworks Wednesday" (2006)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Intimate conflicts in the Iranian middle class are Farhadi’s expertise and this domestic drama, set fittingly during the celebrations prior to the Persian New Year, is no exception. When a soon-to-be bride in need of money for her wedding gets a job cleaning a family’s house, their secrets begin to unravel through their interaction and confrontations.
*Available on DVD from Facets
9. "Gabbeh" (1996)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Taking its name from a type of Persian carpet, this stunningly evocative fable is adorned with mysticism and magical realist elements that shine through its colorful visual palette. Gabbeh, a young nomadic woman who is likely the incarnation of one of these traditional rugs, falls in love with horseman, but her community follows beliefs that hinder her desire.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
10. "The Green Wave" (2010)
Dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi
Told through striking animated sequences, interviews and footage from the protests, this documentary constructs a bold portrait of the 2009 Green Movement following Ahmadinejad’s reelection. The regime's strong grip over its citizens is exposed, but the spirit of the Iranian people demanding change is even stronger.
*Available on DVD from Strand Releasing
11. "Hamoun" (1990)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Underscored by subdued comedy and poignant dream sequences, Mehrjui’s visionary drama centers on the decaying relationship between Hamoun, a businessman with hopes of becoming a writer, and his wife Mahshid, a painter. Insanity takes over him when she decides to divorce him because of his angry outbursts. A series of drastic occurrences ensue.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
12. "Kandahar" (2001)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Despite being set in Afghanistan, this Iranian production is a powerful achievement that unveils the unjust treatment of women, not only under the Taliban’s control, but also in the entire region. Nafas, an Afghan women living in Canada, decides to return to her homeland to find her depressed sister. Through this dangerous journey she discovers much more about life in the war-torn country than she expected.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
13. "Leila" (1997)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Starting famous Iranian actress Leila Hatami in one her earliest roles as a married woman unable to have children, this conjugal drama explores the role of women within Iranian society. Leila’s husband, Reza (played by “The Past” star Ali Mosaffa), loves her, but his mother wants him to get another wife that can give him a son. The title character is divided between her happiness and what others think is best for her marriage.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
14. "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (2013)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Rasoulof’s brave and searing political statement was shot illegally going against the20-year-ban from filmmaking imposed on him by the Iranian government. It denounces the terrifying lack of freedom of expression via the thrilling story a pair of writers risking it all to protect an incendiary manuscript that authorities are eager to destroy.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
15. "Marooned in Iraq" (2002)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Highlighting the rich Kurdish culture, both in Iran and Iraq, Ghobadi’s film is set in the aftermath of the ravaging Gulf War. Marooned is an elderly man who must travel across the mountainous landscape that divides the two countries to find his ex-wife. While portraying the horrors of war in an affecting manner, the film is also a life-affirming work that finds hope in the most surprising places.
*Available on DVD from Wellspring
16. "My Tehran for Sale"
Dir. Granaz Moussavi
Devastating and current, this debut feature from renowned poet turned filmmaker Granaz Moussavi is a hard-hitting critique on the blatant criminalization of artists in Iran. An actress banned from her profession questions whether she should remain in the country or flee. Getting to safety means leaving everything she knows behind. There are no easy options for her.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
17. "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (2009)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Music as the banner of freedom is the focus of Ghobadi’s film about the underground rock scene in Tehran. Secular music is essentially forbidden, and playing in public is considered a criminal act punished with prison. Crafted between reality and fiction, this quasi-documentary takes a look at a group of young musicians desperate to express themselves through their art.
*Available on DVD from Mpi Home Video
18. "Offside" (2006)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Attending sporting events is prohibited for women in Iran, but that doesn’t stop many of them who go as far as to dress like men to get in. Panahi’s touching and insightful film takes place during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, and follows several girls who despite being excluded cheer for their team as joyfully as any fan would.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
19. "Persepolis" (2007)
Dir. Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, this French-language marvel is based on Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel by the same name. With eye-popping hand-drawn animation, the film revisits the director’s childhood and teenage years in Iran during the events leading up to the Islamic Revolution. It’s a love letter to the bittersweet memories of the Iran Satrapi knew.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
20. "A Separation" (2011)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Dealing with a marriage in turmoil facing the country's peculiar judicial system, Farhadi’s masterpiece is the most acclaimed film in the history of Iranian cinema and earned the country's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay for its enthralling thriller-like narrative that grips the audience until its unnerving conclusion. A must see!
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
21. "The Song of Sparrows" (2008)
Dir. Majid Majidi
When Karim (played by Berlin’s Silver Bear Winner Reza Naji), an ostrich farm worker, is forced to find a new job in the city to pay for his daughter’s hearing aid, Iran’s rural and urban realms collide. Thanks to the captivating grace that characterizes Majidi’s films, poverty and misfortune are observed here not with pity but with an optimistic and undefeated perspective.
*Available on DVD from E1 Entertainment
22." Taste of Cherry" (1997)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
This quiet and minimalist meditation on death and the simple joys of its antithesis is the first and only Iranian film to have won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes. Kiarostami follows a man who has decided to commit suicide and is looking for someone to help him achieve this. However, those he recruits along the way come with their own views on the meaning of our existence and attempt to persuade him to reconsider.
*Available on DVD from Criterion
23. "Ten" (2002)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
A female cabbie drives through the streets of Tehran picking up an array of characters that via their casual conversations shine a light on the Iranian society’s expectations of women. Constructed of ten individual scenes in which the only constant is the driver, this heavily improvised and peculiarly shot cinematic experiment is a work of fiction embedded with truth in every frame.
*Available on DVD from Zeitgeist Films
24. "This is Not a Film" (2011)
Dir. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb & Jafar Panahi
In an effort to tell his story despite being banned from filmmaking and under house arrest, filmmaker Jafar Panahi takes his frustration and ingeniously turns it into a courageous visual statement. Whether is shooting video with his cell phone or blocking an imaginary scene in his living room, his passion for storytelling is resilient even when confronting such suffocating censorship.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Palisades Tartan
25. "A Time for Drunken Horses" (2000)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
With the snow-covered Zagros Mountains as backdrop, Ghobadi’s debut feature tells the story of Ayoub, a young Kurdish boy who must provide for his siblings after their mother’s death. Added to the already difficult circumstances, his handicapped brother desperately needs a surgery. This pushes the heroic kid to persevere against all odds in the hostile environment.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
26. "Turtles Can Fly" (2004)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Commanding a cast made almost entirely of children Ghobadi sets his film in an Iraqi Kurdish refugee camp just before the American occupation of 2003. Making a living by clearing the hazardous minefields that surround them, a group of orphan children create a small community to survive. The atrocities of war are ever-present, but like in most of the director’s works, the triumph of the human spirit is at the film's core.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
27. "The White Balloon" (1995)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Written by Kiarostami and directed by Panahi this is another film set during the important Persian New Year celebrations. It centers on a little girl trying to convince her parents to buy her a goldfish and who gets in a couple mishaps along the way. With utmost innocence, the seemingly simple premise manages to be a charming delight that showcases family values and ancient virtues with a nice dose of humor. It’s an uplifting gem.
*Sadly the film is not curently availble in any format in the U.S. Hopefully Criterion or another distributor will fix this soon.
28. "The White Meadows" (2009)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
While ethereal, almost otherworldly imagery achieved by cinematographer Ebrahim Ghafori is reason enough to see this film, Rasoulof’s poetic storytelling elevates it to even greater intellectual heights. By using a barren coastal land and its inhabitant as a metaphor for the intolerance and injustice that many of his compatriots -creative people in particular - confront everyday, the filmmaker denounces these evils through melancholic beauty.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
29. "The Willow Tree" (2005)
Dir. Majid Majidi
A writer, who had been blinded in an accident as a child, regains his vision as a middle aged adult only to be challenged by a world that has become foreign to him. At first, his miraculous new situation appears to be an answer to a prayer, but Majidi soon shows us how vision can become a curse in this spiritual drama about fate and regret. Exquisitely shot and sporting visceral performances, the film is both heart-rending and though provoking.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Films
30. "The Wind Will Carry Us" (1999)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Taking the audience on a trip to an untainted region of Iran where tradition hasn’t yet been disrupted by modernity, the acclaimed director crafted another unforgettable experience. Sublimely executed, the film joins four journalists pretending to be engineers as they document the funerary rituals of the local Kurdish people. More than learning about them as researchers, their interactions force them to engage on a much more human level.
*Availble on Blu-ray and DVD from Cohen Media Group...
- 3/23/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Director issues statement on his reasons for defying filmmaking ban.
Paris-based Celluloid Dreams has taken on international sales of dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Taxi ahead of its premiere in competition at the Berlinale next month.
“I’m handling it for free as a present because he needs the money. He’s a father, he has kids but he can’t work,” said Celluloid Dreams’ president Hengameh Panahi, who has handled all of the Iranian director’s films since The White Balloon, apart From This is Not a Film.
Taxi is Panahi’s third feature since the Iranian authorities banned him from making films at the end of 2010.
It follows This is Not a Film which was smuggled out of Iran on an Usb key hidden in a cake, and Closed Curtain, about two fugitives hiding in a house on the Caspian Sea, which was in competition in Berlin 2013.
In a statement released on the...
Paris-based Celluloid Dreams has taken on international sales of dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Taxi ahead of its premiere in competition at the Berlinale next month.
“I’m handling it for free as a present because he needs the money. He’s a father, he has kids but he can’t work,” said Celluloid Dreams’ president Hengameh Panahi, who has handled all of the Iranian director’s films since The White Balloon, apart From This is Not a Film.
Taxi is Panahi’s third feature since the Iranian authorities banned him from making films at the end of 2010.
It follows This is Not a Film which was smuggled out of Iran on an Usb key hidden in a cake, and Closed Curtain, about two fugitives hiding in a house on the Caspian Sea, which was in competition in Berlin 2013.
In a statement released on the...
- 1/26/2015
- ScreenDaily
What:
Inauguration of the second season of the Arbhaat Children’s Film Club in Pune.
The second season will open with the screening of Jafar Panahi’s multiple award winning Iranian film, ‘The White Balloon’.
After the screening, actress Amruta Subhash and filmmaker Chitra Palekar will conduct an interactive session with children.
When:
August 2, 2014. 2:30 pm-4:30 pm
Where:
National Film Archive of India
Law College Road, Pune
Entry:
Free for all...
Inauguration of the second season of the Arbhaat Children’s Film Club in Pune.
The second season will open with the screening of Jafar Panahi’s multiple award winning Iranian film, ‘The White Balloon’.
After the screening, actress Amruta Subhash and filmmaker Chitra Palekar will conduct an interactive session with children.
When:
August 2, 2014. 2:30 pm-4:30 pm
Where:
National Film Archive of India
Law College Road, Pune
Entry:
Free for all...
- 7/29/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
11 Cannes Film Festival classics have been made available to watch online through the BFI Player.
Cinema fans will be able to rent any of the titles - including Palme d'Or winners Apocalypse Now, Blue Is the Warmest Colour and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives - for £2 until Sunday, May 18 as part of the collection's introductory offer.
The BFI Player's list of films includes four Palme d'Or winners, three holders of the Caméra d'Or, a pair of Grand Prix classics and two films from Un Certain Regard.
The full list of BFI Player titles is as follows:
Apocalypse Now (1979)The White Balloon (1995)Tulpan (2008)A Prophet (2009)Dogtooth (2009)The White Ribbon (2009)Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)Las acacias (2011)The Kid with a Bike (2011)Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Cannes opened on Wednesday with the world premiere of Nicole Kidman's critically-lambasted Grace of Monaco.
Cinema fans will be able to rent any of the titles - including Palme d'Or winners Apocalypse Now, Blue Is the Warmest Colour and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives - for £2 until Sunday, May 18 as part of the collection's introductory offer.
The BFI Player's list of films includes four Palme d'Or winners, three holders of the Caméra d'Or, a pair of Grand Prix classics and two films from Un Certain Regard.
The full list of BFI Player titles is as follows:
Apocalypse Now (1979)The White Balloon (1995)Tulpan (2008)A Prophet (2009)Dogtooth (2009)The White Ribbon (2009)Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)Las acacias (2011)The Kid with a Bike (2011)Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Cannes opened on Wednesday with the world premiere of Nicole Kidman's critically-lambasted Grace of Monaco.
- 5/16/2014
- Digital Spy
Edinburgh exhibitor Filmhouse is to tour a season of films about childhood across the UK, curated by documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins.
The season will comprise 17 films about childhood (see below for full list).
Most of the titles in the season are featured in Cousins’ documentary A Story of Children and Film, which premiered at Cannes last year.
The April-June tour will take in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol and Sheffield among other cities.
The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has also licensed VoD rights to a number of the titles.
The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund. Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell, who also produced A Story of Children and Film, are producers.
The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy breaks a school window, and must mend...
The season will comprise 17 films about childhood (see below for full list).
Most of the titles in the season are featured in Cousins’ documentary A Story of Children and Film, which premiered at Cannes last year.
The April-June tour will take in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol and Sheffield among other cities.
The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has also licensed VoD rights to a number of the titles.
The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund. Adam Dawtrey and Mary Bell, who also produced A Story of Children and Film, are producers.
The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy breaks a school window, and must mend...
- 2/4/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Rebirth of House of Cinema in Tehran signals relaxation of regime's hard line on homegrown movie industry
• Xan Brooks on Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film: 'A salute to a creative spirit that will not be crushed'
• Jafar Panahi defies ban to appear at film festival via Skype
Iran's main film industry guild has reopened, almost two years after it was closed by hardliners, reports the state news agency, Irna.
The demise of the House of Cinema was criticised by high-profile directors such as Asghar Farhadi, whose film, A Separation, won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign-language film. The reopening could signal a change in attitude towards film under the leadership of new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who is seen as more moderate than his predecessor and has hinted at a greater tolerance on cultural issues.
The guild, which has more than 5,000 members from all corners of the Iranian film industry,...
• Xan Brooks on Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film: 'A salute to a creative spirit that will not be crushed'
• Jafar Panahi defies ban to appear at film festival via Skype
Iran's main film industry guild has reopened, almost two years after it was closed by hardliners, reports the state news agency, Irna.
The demise of the House of Cinema was criticised by high-profile directors such as Asghar Farhadi, whose film, A Separation, won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign-language film. The reopening could signal a change in attitude towards film under the leadership of new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who is seen as more moderate than his predecessor and has hinted at a greater tolerance on cultural issues.
The guild, which has more than 5,000 members from all corners of the Iranian film industry,...
- 9/13/2013
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
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