LFF 2015: First Feature Competition#2

Light Years

Reviews of the First Feature Competition at London Film Festival, Part II
By Kiomars Vejdani

LIGHT YEARS
Director: Esther May Campbell; UK, 2015

The film is from the collective point of view three children whose lives are affected by a dysfunctional father and a mostly absent mother due to mental illness. The impression they have of their parents is like a star light years away which even though can be seen by us might not exist any more. we see the fragmented lives of these children running parallel to each other with the hope of one day family being reunited.

PARTISAN
Director: Ariel Kleiman; Austria, 2014

The film revolves around the enigmatic character of Gregori (played by Vincent Cassel), the leader of a hideaway community of women and their children. He is protective of people under his care, providing them with food and amenities of life. But at the same time he acts like a dictator establishing arbitrary rules, very often illogical, at times immoral and even illegal. Anyone disobeying him will be banished from the community. His character is a mixture of saint and sinner. The double nature of his character is the basis for film's moral ambiguity. Our doubts about Gregori's character and his morality is personified by Alexander, an eleven year boy, who initially see him as a hero but gradually begins to see the other side of his character. The film ends at the moment of Alexander's indecision about the action to take against Gregori, leaving the audience in a moral limbo.

WEDDING DOLL
Director: Nitzan Gilady; Israel, 2015

The film has a mentally handicapped young girl as its protagonist. She can not survive without the support of her mother. She can cope with a simple manual job in a workshop. Her only talent is making wedding dolls. The plot revolves around her romantic fantasy about a young man who by emotionally exploiting her encourages the fantasy. Her ultimate dream is marrying the man which ends up in a bitter disillusionment at the climax of the film. The film's simple technique matches the purity and innocence of its main character.

KRISHA
Director: Trey Edward Shults; USA, 2015

A family drama about reunion of film's title protagonist with her her family. A complicated character with a range of emotional problems, Krisha is trying to re-establish rapport with her family after a long period of absence. But her excessive demand for love, both giving and receiving, proves to be counter-productive, causing rejection by members of the family. The film's tension builds up as the hostility of others escalates and becomes more direct ending up in the film's climax of a stormy scene. A powerful drama with an excellent performance by Krisha Fairchild in the title role.

LFF 2015: First Feature Competition#1

3000 Nights

Reviews of the First Feature Competition at London Film Festival
By Kiomars Vejdani 


3000 NIGHTS
Director: Mai Masri; Palestine/France/Lebanon/UAE/Qatar, 2015

The film tells the story of a woman who for helping a young man on the run was charged with terrorism and spent eight years in an Israeli prison. Director Mai Masri with her background as a documentary film-maker has created a realistic, textured film with attention to details of environment and characters. Her powerful drama is based on clashes between Israeli and Arab women in the prison (at times amounting to violence), and cruelty inflicted on prisoners by a ruthless wardens (including torture). The horrifying atmosphere of prison well reflects the politically unstable situation in that part of the world where suspicion and hatred are the dominating sentiments.

LAMB
Director: Yared Zeleke; France/Ethiopia/Germany/Norway, 2015

The film is about loving relationship between a small boy and his lamb. The purity of his love is in sharp contrast with harsh attitude of adults who have to deal with realities of life. The boy's love represents innocence of childhood (his minor immoral acts such as petty thefts is carried out in all innocence to save his lamb), but eventually he realizes that a time will come to let his lamb go. Set in unspoiled landscape of Ethiopian mountainside, film tells its story with a simple technique to match the sentiment of is content.

THE WAIT
Director: Piero Messina; Italy, 2015

It is a study in bereavement and loss of loved ones. A mother who has lost her son find herself unable to break the news to her son's girlfriend, waiting for the right moment to do so. The film explores details of woman's grief from denial to acceptance. A suitable vehicle for Julitte Binoche who is expert in portraying women tormented by their emotions.

THE WITCH
Director: Robert Eggers; USA/Canada, 2015

In 17th century New England a devout Christian family living in a farm at the edge of the forest experience strange phenomena which they suspect is due to supernatural powers and work of devil. As the film progresses they gradually begin to suspect their teenage daughter to be a witch. The film's dramatic tension builds up as clashes between members of the family escalates to the histrionic level (similar to the case of Salem witches) ending in the climax of revelation. The film generates an undercurrent of horror in a Gothic atmosphere conveying the existence of evil force. In the final scene film shows the witch as the embodiment of our subconscious desires. Her victory and celebration conveys defeat of Christian faith in the hands of a more powerful enemy.

Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015) - LFF Review

TAXI (in the UK: TAXI TEHRAN)
Director: Jafar Panahi; Iran, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Following This Is Not a Film and Closed Curtain, Jafar Panahi's Taxi Tehran seems to be first and foremost his reaction to imposed restriction. In his new film (winner of Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival) the restriction is a self imposed one by limiting himself to the confined space of a taxi. By playing the role of taxi driver Panahi beaks the boundary between cinematic illusion and reality of life. Although taxi runs though streets of Tehran there is nothing specific about places visited. The main purpose of using a taxi is for Panahi to express his feelings and views through encounters with a series of passengers, showing two extreme lines of thought in the society such as in the scene when a heated argument between a fanatic man and a liberal-minded female teacher is depicted. Other passengers include: a man selling copies of pirated DVDs; Two women carrying goldfish in a bowl, highlighting the grip that religious superstition can have on people; Pleasant encounter with a friend (human right lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh) voices social restrictions which Panahi himself has gone through.

But most interesting of all is Panahi's niece, a delightful little girl who is trying to make a film as a school project and is confused between restrictive instruction given by school and advice given by his uncle about how to search for reality. The film ends (or rather interrupted) by someone breaking into the taxi while Panahi is away for a short while. It is implied that it could be an act of surveillance rather than burglary. Panahi's final message seems to be he is prepared (and able) to work under any restrictive condition.

Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang (Walter Salles, 2015)

JIA ZHANGKE, A GUY FROM FENYANG
Director: Walter Salles; Brazil, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

A film about a great director, made by another great. Walter Salles' documentary on Jia Zhangke is mainly made of conversation between the two filmmakers, while they visit various places from Zhangke's past life, including some of the locations used in his films. Tone of conversation is informal and friendly. Zhangke talks freely about his younger days and mischievous acts. He mentions his favourite films including some he remembers from his childhood (interestingly among them we see Raj Kapoor's Awara).  Further comments come from people in his life, including his wife and actress of his films Zhao Tao. The film gives an informative picture of Zhangke's world and the relationship between his life and his work. Walter Salles, treatment of his subject is intimate and friendly. But his affectionate respect for his follow filmmaker is felt throughout.

Sunset Song (Terence Davies, 2015)

SUNSET SONG
Director: Terence Davies; UK/Luxembourg, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Terence Davies is on top form with a film reminding us of his early works like Distant Voices, Still Lives. But while his new film is not autobiographical and is based on a novel by Lewis Grassic Gibon set in Scotland of the early 20th century, the familiar elements of romantic nostalgia is present. The film follows the life story of its protagonist from her days as a teenage girl, living in a farm with a loving mother and a tyrant of a father, and after their death becoming a farm owner, wife and mother, deeply in love with her husband until First World War brings her a sorrow that many women faced. A literary third person narration gives a film a poetic touch added to the visual beauty of its images, whether outdoors such as golden corn fields under the sun or indoors as lit by oil lamp or candle. Terence Davies at his most stylish.

Saul fia (László Nemes, 2015)

SON OF SAUL
Director: László Nemes; Hungary, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The first shot of the film establishes its theme and style: a long take fixed on the close-up of the protagonist with stages of extermination gas chamber proceeding in the blurred background. The film is from the point of view of Saul, a Sonderkommando (a prisoner in concentration camp, carrying out the unpleasant task of helping Nazis with their extermination). In a succession of long takes all the horrifying aspects of life in concentration camp is shown with Saul nearly always at the centre of the frame. We share his experience as he carries on with his task, from seeing prisoners are undressed and moved into the gas chamber and afterwards collecting their clothes and possessions. Director László Nemes has created a nightmarish atmosphere covering every aspect of atrocities committed by the Nazis. We watch prisoners murdered (either sent to gas chamber or shot dead) and being poured into a common grave. We hear their screams and even feel the smell of rotten bodies (by seeing Saul covering his mouth with a piece of cloth).The only sign of humanity in this infernal setting is Saul's determination to give a descent burial to a young boy who briefly survived the gas chamber. Holocaust has never been watched more closely. A well deserved winner of Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival.

The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin, 2015)

THE FORBIDDEN ROOM
Director: Guy Maddin; Canada, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Guy Maddin's surrealistic experimental film with its disjointed storyline, a succession of colourful psychedelic and monochrome images dissolving into one another to create a kaleidoscopic dream world. The film is full of literary and cinematic references (such as Jules Verne's submarine) as well as symbolic and analytic allusions (with forbidden room the ultimate one). A funny dialogue and narration, odd situations and eccentric characters (portrayed by exaggerated performances) gives the film its dry sense of humour and edge of satire. The film despite (or perhaps because of) its total chaos, incoherence and confusion keeps our interest alive and propel it forward right through to the end. If there is one one word to describe Maddin's delightful mixture of humour and fantasy it would be fantastic.

Évolution (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2015)

Évolution
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic; France, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Director Lucile Hadzihalilovic explores the sexual awakening of a young boy in the setting of a hospital in an isolated island, and his relationship with a young attractive girl (her nurse /carer). Film's approach is an analytical one with plenty of symbolism such as deep water for subconscious and final return to the shore of civilisation representing conscious level of mind. But director makes the picture even more complicated by taking the boy's relationship back to its origin in the system of evolution, thus adding Darwinism to Freudian psychology.

Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015)

ROOM
Director: Lenny Abrahamson; Canada-Ireland, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The film is from the point of view of a boy of five who has lived from birth in the confinement of a shed with no direct contact with the world outside. We share his restricted world and his confused perception of reality due to limited feedback he receives from his environment. For him a fly is real because it exists in his room but cats, dogs, and trees are illusion because they exist only on TV screen. The fact that he still has a good understanding of the world is because of her mother. She shares her son's confined environment and has made it the main task of her life to teach her son everything about world outside so that his perception of it remains normal. As the story progresses we come to realize the horrifying circumstances which has led to their present situation. The crucial question we face is how the boy is going to react to his own perception of reality after he reaches the world out side. The film answers this question in a most satisfying way. Lenny Abrahamson has built a powerful drama based on an unusual and emotive subject treated with great sensitivity and gentleness.

Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga, 2015)

BEASTS OF NO NATIONS
Director: Cary Fukunaga; USA, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The film is from the point of view of a small boy in an unnamed war-torn African country. Director Cary Fukunaga has created an infernal atmosphere where chaos and cruelty rules and human life has lost its value. In this nightmarish setting he takes us through the emotional odyssey of its protagonist. We watch the boy's transformation from an innocent and carefree childhood (in the extremely funny scene of "imagination TV") to horror of watching his father and brother being killed, desperation and misery of being left alone and unprotected, to joining the rebel group and becoming a killing machine shooting anyone considered enemy without getting upset or giving it any thought. In the end when he is taken out of war zone and put in a boy's camp we see him reverting to normal boyhood playing with the others on the beach. But how much of his childhood innocence has been lost we can not tell for sure, as such an experience is bound to leave some deep scars on his soul. The film is a powerful drama of loss of human values.

The Here After (Magnus von Horn, 2015)

THE HERE AFTER 
Director: Magnus von Horn; Sweden | Poland | France, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Film relates the tragedy of a young boy who because of a major crime (killing his girlfriend) has been marked for life. Even though he has been punished by law for serving his term of sentence, community is not prepared to forget and forgive his crime. Director Magnus von Horn builds his drama with assured pace. The film's tension escalates in proportion to the intensity of community's hostility and the boy's frustration. It ends at the highest point of his despair. A morally vague but tue ending, for what he has done can not be forgiven not even by himself.

Bang Gang (Eva Husson, 2015)

BANG GANG (A MODERN LOVE STORY) 
Director: Eva Husson; France, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Director Eva Husson uses detailed character study of a group of teenagers to explore sexual behaviour of younger generation of present day, their carefree attitude toward sex even to the extreme of promiscuity such as orgies. But at the end film uses a traumatic scandalous incident to take a morally conservative stand toward sex and a belief in a long term stable relationship, a last minute change of mind which affects the film's thematic consistency.

11 Minutes (Jerzy Skolimowski, 2015)

11 MINUTES
Jerzy Skolimowski; Poland/Ireland, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

A series of events run alongside each other: A young attractive woman is having an audition by a film director in his flat; A jealous and suspicious husband is trying to find the whereabouts of his wife; A pregnant woman is taken to hospital by ambulance; A young man is trying to commit suicide; A motor cyclist driving very fast worried about his affair with a married woman being exposed; And a street vendor selling hot dogs to three nuns. As the stories of these characters move parallel to each other the tension of each situation begins to rise, and as the tempo of parallel action increases we begin to suspect some connection between them. Their stories seem to be converging towards a collision point, and as they get closer to this point the tension of the drama increases until at the moment of collision it ends in a catastrophic tragedy. Only in retrospect we realize we were watching 11 minutes in the lives of these people (hence the title of the film). The aim of Skolimowski's tense drama is ultimately to show the role of fate in our lives.

High-Rise (Ben Wheatley, 2015)

HIGH-RISE
Ben Wheatley; UK, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Ben Wheatley's new film has the chaotic world of Fields of England. Although film at its starting point is a satire on Thatcher's era and its values, it stretches far beyond that point into the territory of Apocalypse in the making. An unbalanced world with its standards crumbling symbolised by a tall "high rise" building which despite (or perhaps because of) its elaborately sophisticated architecture, its structure seems off balance and expected to collapse any minute. The metaphor of social distance and class difference has been made only too obvious with lower class in floors below leading a miserable life while upper class on top floor have all the amenities and luxuries at their disposal. Disintegration of social system leads to retrograde movement of civilisation, eventually reaching to a primitive level of existence when people start to eat their own dogs.

Ben Weatley is a master of showing horrors of dehumanisation while in his treatment replacing horror with humour. 

Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2015)

CHEVALIER 
Athina Rachel Tsangari; Greece, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

A group of six men on a boat on holiday get engaged in a series of games to decide who is the overall best among them. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari uses this setting to explore mental state of her characters and their development in detail. At the beginning of the film they are mature and logical men. But as the games progress they gradually become more immature. They lose their rational way of thinking, their controlled behaviour and altogether civilised side of their nature, with basic and primitive emotions and instincts coming to the surface They regress from state of adulthood to act like a child. Their immaturity, selfishness and low level of frustration tolerance becomes more apparent. Only after the game is over they return to normal state making us think about the futility of the whole exercise. It is a brilliant character study with a lot of humour. The joke of “blood brothers” is something to remember.  

KVIFF#50 - Part III: Cousins, Zeleke, Kadár,/Klos, Taviani/Taviani

يادداشت‌هايي دربارۀ چند فيلم از پنجاهمين دوره فستيوال فيلم كارلووي واري – بخش سوم و آخر

من بلفاست هستم (مارك كازينز؛ بريتانيا، 2015)

كازينز يكي از پركارترين مستندسازان سينماي امروز است كه سالي حداقل دو فيلم به فستيوال‌هاي بين‌المللي مي‌فرستد. او تا به حال فيلم‌هايي دربارۀ شهرها و مناطقي كه از آن‌ها گذر كرده (مكزيكوسيتي، تيرانا، ساردينيا) ساخته، اما فيلم تازه‌اش دربارۀ شهري است كه در آن به دنيا آمده و سال‌هاي نوجواني‌اش را در آن سپري كرده، سال‌هايي كه با تنش خونين بين كاتوليك‌ها و پروتستان‌ها، تب جدايي‌طلبي و مداخله نظامي بريتانيا به سياه‌ترين روزهاي بلفاست تبديل شد.

اما انتظار خلق يك شاهكار، صرفاً به منزله اين كه كازينز اين شهر را بهتر از سوژۀ تمام فيلم‌هاي ديگرش مي‌شناسد كمي بيهوده است؛ تاريخ سينما ثابت كرده وقتي شناخت فيلم‌ساز از موضوع چندان دقيق و وابسته به جزييات بي‌شمار و به همان نسبت دست و پاگير نيست شايد فيلم بهتري خلق ‌شود.

KVIFF#50 - Part II: Zeman, Ergüven, Morina

كارِل زمان: ماجراجوي سينما

يادداشت‌هايي دربارۀ چند فيلم از پنجاهمين دوره فستيوال فيلم كارلووي واري، جمهوري چك، 2015

كارِل زمان: ماجراجوي سينما (توماس هودان؛ جمهوري چك، 2015)

يكي از اساتيد سينماي فانتزي اروپا كه ردش را مي‌توان در دنياي تري گيليام و تيم برتون هم جستجو كرد (كه هر دو هم در اين فيلم طرف مصاحبه قرار گرفته‌اند) در واقع يك مهندس نابغه تصويرگري و مخترع تكنيك‌هاي مكانيكي ساده‌اي بود كه تأثير خارق‌العاده‌اي روي پرده خلق مي‌كردند. او كه بيش‌تر براي اقتباس‌هاي خلاقانه‌اش از رمان‌هاي ژول ورن شناخته مي‌شود و زماني پول‌سازترين فيلم‌ساز چكسلواكي بود موضوع اين مستند هشتاد دقيقه‌اي قرار گرفته، فيلمي كه برخلاف ميزانسن با آرتور پن با تحقيقات درجه يك و بررسي چند بعدي سينماي زِمان همراه است، اما آن صميميت ديوانه‌وار نادري را ندارد.

KVIFF#50 - Part I: Mise en scène with Arthur Penn

 يادداشت‌هايي دربارۀ چند فيلم از پنجاهمين دوره فستيوال فيلم كارلووي واري، جمهوري چك، 2015

امسال در كارلزباد

احسان خوش‌بخت

كارلووي‌واري، شهري كه پنجاه سال پيش اولين دوره يك فستيوال بين‌المللي فيلم در آن برگزار شد، تركيب خيال‌انگيزي از معماري اتريشي-مجار و تغزل كوهستاني شهري سوييسي است كه با انبوهي هتل‌هاي پنج ستاره و چشمه‌هاي آب معدني محاصره شده. شهري كه از بتهوون تا شاهان قاجار را مجذوب خودش كرده از سوي غرب آن قدر به آلمان نزديك هست كه نامي آلماني هم داشته باشد: كارلزباد.

بزرگ‌ترين و معروف‌ترين هتل شهر، هتل بزرگ پوپ، كه مركز پارتي‌هاي شبانه فستيوال هم هست، اگر به جاي سفيد صورتي مي‌بود مي‌توانست همان «هتل بزرگ بوداپست» باشد. مردم كارلووي واري، يا به طور دقيق‌تر مردمي كه از جاهاي ديگر جمهوري‌هاي چك و اسلواك و كشورهاي ديگر به اين شهر مي‌آيند، تحت تأثير زيبايي مكس افولس‌وار شهري كه با هر پيچ رود جاري در دل دره به رقص درآمده عادت به نونوار كردن و به‌تن كردن بهترين لباس‌هايشان دارد. كارلوووي واري، جلوي غيرحقيقي و بيش از حد رتوش شده دارد، و اين چيزي است كه يك فستيوال سينمايي مي‌تواند بهره‌هاي بسيار از آن ببرد.

از طول اصلي فستيوال من حدود دو سوم آن را در كارلووي واري گذراندم و به جز فيلم‌هاي بد و مأيوس كننده‌اي كه حتي نوشتن يك خط درباره‌شان بايد با ماليت سنگين كاغذ و جوهر موازنه شود (و به همين دليل بهشان اشاره‌اي نخواهم كرد) اين چند فيلم آثار قابل توجهي‌اند كه در پنجاهمين دوره فستيوال ديدم.

ميزانسن با آرتور پن: يك گفتگو (اميرنادري؛ آمريكا/ايتاليا، 2014)

براي ساختن چنين فيلم ديوانه‌واري نياز به دانستن چيزهاي زيادي دربارۀ سينما نيست، فقط مقدار زيادي عشق و اعتماد به نفس لازم است كه امير نادري به وفور از هر دو بهره برده. اما براي بهتر شناختن زمينه‌هاي نمايش و توزيع چنين پروژه ديوانه‌واري كه سه و ساعت و نيم از گفتگوي تقريباً اديت نشده‌اي با آرتور پن را به يك فيلم سينمايي تبديل كرده لازم است كه حداقل يكي از پشتيبانان پروژه را شناخت: برنامه سينمايي تلويزيون سوم ايتاليا (RAI3) كه به نام Fuori Orario (به معناي ديروقت) مجموعه‌اي حيرت‌انگيز از سينماي كلاسيك، مدرن و تجربي را از نيمه شب تا صبح در طول آخر هفته‌ها نمايش مي‌دهد.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

 از يادداشت‌هاي من بر ده فيلم برگزيده منتقدان ايراني در شمارۀ 400 ماهنامۀ «فيلم»

آواز در باران: آن دم كه رويا مسلط مي‌شود

در رأی گیری شمارۀ 400 تنها موزیکالی که به اتفاق آراء بالاتر از بقیۀ فیلم‌های ژانر خود قرار گرفته بود (و حتی تا آخرین لحظات جمع‌بندی آراء جزو دو فیلم اول قرار داشت) آواز در باران بود. نقدي كه بازلي كراوتر در زمان خود  در نيويورك تايمز نوشته پس از اشاراتي بي‌حوصله به يكي دو نكته "بامزه" فيلم، از جين كلي و استنلي دانن به عنوان كارگردانان اين "نمايش" (شو) ياد كرده است. اين نمونه‌اي است از برخورد منتقدان با موزيكال‌هاي بزرگ مترو در زمان خودشان. مايه‌ي شگفتي است راهي كه طي شده تا فيلم‌هايي مانند آواز در باران نه تنها جدي گرفته شده، بلكه به عنوان الگويي از سينماي ناب ستايش شوند.

با آن كه تمام آوازهاي فيلم، به جز دو تاي آن‌ها، تكراري بود، ساختار تازه، انرژي بي‌پايان و مجموعه‌اي درخشان از بازيگران و رقاصان و صحنه‌پردازي‌ها به اين موزيكالِ موزيكال ها رنگ و بويي ديگر مي‌دهد. شايد يكي از جسورانه‌ترين كارهاي كلي و دانن، انتخاب دبي رينولدز و دانالد اوكانر باشد. دبی رینولدز 19 ساله (که در رقابتي تنگانگ لسلی کارون و جین پاول را برای بازي در فيلم شكست داده بود) باید هر روز ساعت چهار صبح سوار اتوبوس شده و تا استودیو سه ماشین عوض می کرد تا اولین شانس بازیگری‌اش در سینما را به تجربه‌ای موفق بدل کند. او بعدها مصایب بازی در این فیلم و کنار آمدن با جین کلی سرسخت و كمي دیکتاتورمآب را به درد زایمان تشبیه کرد.

Night of the Hunchback (Farrokh Ghaffari, 1965)

From my Iranian New Wave programme notes, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, 2015. -- EK

SHAB-E GHUZI
Iran, 1965 Regia: Farrokh Ghaffari
T. int.: Night of the Hunchback. Scen.: Farrokh Ghaffari, Jalal Moghaddam. Dial.: Jalal Moghaddam. F.: Gerium Hayrapetian. M.: Ragnar. Mus.: Hossein Malek. Int.: Pari Saberi, Paria Hakemi, Khosro Sahami, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhang Amiri, Farrokh Ghaffari. Prod.: Iran Nema Studio.

Set over the course of one night, this black comedy focuses on the efforts of a group of stage actors, the father of a bride, and a hairdresser and his assistant (played by Ghaffari himself) to rid themselves of an unwelcome corpse, against the backdrop of uptown Tehranis partying to Ray Charles.

If this pioneering Iranian arthouse film is somehow difficult to pigeonhole, it’s partly due to Farrokh Ghaffari’s own resistance to easy categorisation within Iranian cinema: on the one hand, a true cinephile and intellectual disapproving of a society which he saw as a hotbed of deceit and corruption; on the other hand, a white collar worker at the very institutions which contributed to such cultural backwardness.

Ghaffari lived in Europe from the age of 10. A regular at the Paris Cinémathèque, he befriended Henri Langlois and with his encouragement returned to Iran in 1949 to initiate the Iranian equivalent of the Cinémathèque, Kanoon-e Melli-e Film, which hosted 616 screenings up to the time of the revolution.