Bag of Rice (1998)

From my programme notes for the Cinema of Childhood season in the UK, April 2014.

Bag of Rice [Kiseye Berendj] Director: Mohammad Ali Talebi.
Iran, 1998. With Jairan Abadzade. 80 mins. Cert. U.

The moment that Jeyran, the unflagging young protagonist of Bag of Rice, sets out on her urban odyssey across south Tehran with her partially-sighted neighbour Masoumeh Khanoom, two children – one of whom is lugging a gas cylinder with difficulty– are seen walking towards the camera. The scene takes place in a narrow, brick-walled alley; it is representative of director Mohammad Ali Talebi’s film style and contains the essence of his view of the lives of children in his home city. It expresses the responsibilities, or rather the burdens, that their circumstances demand they bear, and which force them to mature early in their lives. Children in Talebi’s films, especially in Bag of Rice, are not guided by adults, but rather they are the guiding force through the unexpected surprises of everyday life, on journeys of self-determination.

This perspective on youth in Tehran is found not only in the cinema of Talebi, but also in other films produced by the Institute for Intellectual Education of Children and Young Adults – where Talebi and numerous contemporaries, including Abbas Kiarostami, started out as working directors. It is an outlook that owes much to the second “author” of the film, screenwriter Houshang Moradi-Kermani, the leading proponent of literature focusing on children and teenagers in Iran.

Kamran Shirdel Meets Michelangelo Antonioni

Kamran Shirdel interviews Michelangelo Antonioni during The Tehran International Film Festival, 1975.

From Sketch to the Screen: Ken Adam's Citty Chitty Bang Bang

http://cinearchitecture.tumblr.com/post/114402930077/from-sketch-to-the-screen-ken-adams-set-design

Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015)

به خاطر حساسيت‌هاي روي پناهي، اين بخش از گزارش من از برليناله به شكل كامل در ماهنامه «فيلم» منتشر نشد. اين نسخه كامل آن است. هنوز هم از واكنش‌هاي سبوعانه و بعضاً مغرضانه مطبوعات به اين فيلم - كه البته بيشترشان فيلم را هنوز نديده‌اند - حيرانم.  ا.خ.

يادداشتي بر تاكسي جعفر پناهي

كم‌تر اثري در برليناله به اندازۀ تاكسي جعفر پناهي مؤيد تغييرات بنيادين سينما در قرن بيست و يكم و زير و رو شدن شكل ساخت، ارائه و برداشت اثر سينمايي بود. اين تجربه كوچك، مطبوع و بسيار موثر دنياي فيلم‌هاي اخير پناهي را به شكلي منطقي و حساب شده گسترش مي‌دهد (البته من پرده را نديده‌ام) و قابليت‌هاي ديجيتال براي يك مكاشفه شهري/اجتماعي ثابت مي‌كند. فيلم مجموعه‌اي از صحنه‌هاي نوشته شده و طرح‌ريزي شده است كه برخي اصالت مستند بيش‌تري نسبت به ديگري دارند، اما وجود همه و كنار هم قرار گرفتنشان براي ساختار فيلم ضروري است. قالب اصلي يك كمدي است كه در آن فضاي محدود تاكسي، اين «اكلسيا»ي طبيعي در ايران (همان جايي كه در عصر طلايي يونان شهروندان براي صحبت دربارۀ موضوعات عام گردهم مي‌آمدند) به جايي براي تبادل نظر و تنش تبديل مي‌شود.

Camp X-Ray (2014)

كمپ ايكس‌ ري (پيتر ستلِر، آمريكا): مشكل بزرگ سينماي آمريكا اين است كه تصور مي‌كند اعتقادش به فردگرايي با شعارهايي كه دربارۀ ارزش‌هاي جمعي سر مي‌دهد مي‌توانند به راحتي يك كاسه مي‌شوند. به عبارت ديگر در سينماي آمريكا رستگاري يك فرد، رستگاري يك دسته بزرگ‌تر – مثلاً رستگاري يك كشور – تلقي مي‌شوند. در اين سينما بيداري يك فرد هميشه با بيداري جمعي اشتباه گرفته مي‌شود. در سينمايي آمريكا وقتي نوبت موضوعات حاد روز مي‌رسد، معمولاً يك شخصيت (در اين جا يك نظامي زن) در مقابل سؤالي تاريخي/اخلاقي (در اين جا زنداني كردن و شكنجه مضنونين تروريسم) قرار داده مي‌شود. اما به محض اين كه آن شخصيت وجود آن سوال را به رسميت شناخت، و قبل از اين كه به پاسخي برسد، فيلم با عجله و غرق در احساسات به پايان مي‌رسد. با آن‌كه كمپ ايكس ري در دسته فيلم‌هاي بعد از يازده سپتامبر اثر بهتر و برخوردش با رسوايي‌هاي اين كشور در گوانتانامو صادقانه‌تر است اما هم‌چنان با برخورد ملودراماتيك از زير مسئوليت انساني خودش شانه خالي مي‌كند.

Les herbes folles by Jacques Saulnier

Les herbes folles (Alain Resnais, 2009); Production design by Jacques Saulnier.

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2015

The gates of heaven will be opened once more on June 27th. If you don't know about Bologna's Il Cinema Ritrovato, then maybe you're looking for the gate in the wrong place.
 
The festival of international cinephilia, film history and preservation, a year after losing the irreplaceable Peter von Bagh, is more or less following Peter's guidelines and the road map he drew before his passing in September 2014. (See my homage to Peter here.)


According to the festival's official newsletter, the XXIX edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato will take place from June 27th to July 4th:

"About 360 films from 1895 till today (all with English subtitles), 5 theatres from dawn till dusk, as well as open air evening screenings in Bologna’s wonderful main square, Piazza Maggiore, and in Cineteca’s courtyard, Piazzetta Pasolini. 8 fulfilling and memorable days to dive into the pleasure of unique screenings, to discover the best prints and digital restorations from the most important film archives and institutions all over the world, to meet the main exponents of film history as well as current cinema."

The major strands in the festival, loosely categorized in three parts, are announced, and I'm glad to say that the jazz section (called Jazz Goes to the Movies) is curated by me and Jonathan Rosenbaum in which some newly restored jazz films, as well as standard classics will be screened.

So for now, this is what seems like a full week's plan in Bologna:

Notes on Peter Kubelka

تجربه‌هايي با آن‌چه تماشاگر نمي‌بيند

سينماي مِتريكِ پيتر كوبِلكا

در وسط سالني پررفت و آمد مثل يكي از ستون‌هاي خاكستري آن بي‌حركت و منتظر دوستي ايستاده‌ام. مقابل من پيرمردي با صورت گردِ همينگوي‌وار، مو و ريش سفيد و كوتاه و لباس سياه احتمالاً در موقعيت مشابه من قرار دارد. او هم منتظر كسي يا چيزي است. براي يك لحظه، مثل صحنه دوئلي در يكي از وسترن‌هاي لئونه، اين‌بار از فاصله‌اي نزديك، نگاهمان در هم تلاقي پيدا مي‌كند. او مثل مرد بي‌اعتناي شمال از شمال غربي، در آن طرف جاده دوباره به افكار خودش فرو مي‌رود و من كه تصور مي‌كنم چهرۀ آشنايي ديده‌ام، در حالي كه حافظه كوچك‌ترين دستِ ياري‌اي نمي‌رساند، مثل راجر تورنهيل با اصرار بيش‌تر، و با كمي شرم، دوباره خيره مي‌شوم. اما همۀ اين تلاش با سر رسيدن همراهاني كه باعث توقف و انتظار ما در آن نقطه شده‌اند متوقف مي‌شود و هركسي به راه خودش مي رود. چند دقيقه بعد در خيابان تصوير صورت پيرمرد، اين بار با نامش، به ذهنم برمي‌گردد: پيتر كوبلكا!

اين برخورد بسيار كوتاه و تصادفي با يكي از غول‌هاي سينماي تجربي در روزهاي فستيوال فيلم لندن درست مثل خواب بود، يا دقيق‌تر، درست مثل صحنه‌اي از يكي از فيلم‌هاي اين فيلم‌ساز 78 ساله اتريشي كه هم فيلم‌ را مي‌بينيد و هم نمي‌بينيد. ديدنتان به نديدن تبديل مي‌شود و ندينتان فعلِ ديدن را گواهي مي‌كند. اجازه بدهيد برخلاف سينماي صدردصد آبستره كوبلكا، ما كمي از زبان آبستره فاصله بگيريم تا معلوم شود فيلم‌هاي او چطور هم ديده مي‌شوند و هم نمي‌شوند.

British Cinema in Iran: A Brief History

Many histories of contemporary Iran are left unwritten. Many stories about Iranians and their struggles throughout the 20th and 21th centuries, powerful and dramatic ones, are yet to be filmed. Foreign films in Iran, their reception and their impact on film culture is one of them.

I have contributed a chapter to a new book on Iran-UK cultural relations published by the British Council. Didgah: New Perspectives on UK-Iran Relations is a study of affinities shared between the two nations through history, art, and language.

In my chapter, called British Cinema in Iran: A Brief History, I've explored the continuing presence of British films in Iran, whether in form of theatrical screening or popular prime time TV series. It delves into various types of history, such as the history of Iran in 20th century, its film culture and even my personal history and a very special relationship I developed as a teenager with British films on TV.

It is a history which spans the promotional films of the British Council, in the 1940s to TV series such as The Sweeney, Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, and Edge of Darkness in 1990s. Sporadically, but often enthusiastically, British cinema and television productions have been highly appreciated in Iran and the UK’s identity has been on display in many and various ways.

I have narrated it, after an introduction, in three parts as following:

• First golden period: the documentary movement
• Second golden period: British art house cinema vs. Norman Wisdom 
• After the revolution: Norman (again), Nazis and beyond

Like any narrated history, there is a conclusion too.

The book can be download in its entirety here or viewed online, below.

Berlin: A Cinetopographic Guide

"Our taverns and our metropolitan streets, our offices and furnished rooms, our railroad stations and our factories appeared to have us locked up hopelessly. Then came the film and burst this prison world asunder."  —Walter Benjamin

The topographical Berlin, which one can journey to by train or plane, was born in the 12th century. The celluloid Berlin, which one also buys a ticket for but takes a different kind of trip to, materialized much later, towards the end of the 19th century. The silver screen immediately became a site of living memory for the city, as well as a means by which to project into future.

The “birth” of the celluloid Berlin took place on a rooftop above the Schönhauser Allee, when the inventors of German cinema, the Skladanowski brothers, captured Berlin’s skyline. Only a few of those frames remain, ghostly and fading. Provoked by these images, we will explore some of the best examples of Berlin on film.

READ THE FULLY ILLUSTRATED ESSAY ON KEYFRAME