Tag Archives: Film

Iranian movie ‘Inversion’ wins Best Film Award at MedFilm Festival in Italy

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inversion-film-by-behnam-behzadi-varoonegi-poster‘Inversion’, directed and written by Behnam Behzadi, won the Best Film Award at the 21st edition of MedFilm Festival, held in Rome.

Nine films were competing for the “Amore & Psyche” Prize in the official section, ten documentaries for the “Open Eyes” Prize and twenty short films for the “Methexis” Prize. A total of eleven Iranian films, five feature and six short films, were screend in the section “New Iranian Cinema: Beyond Words”.

Inversion is Behnam Behzadi’s fourth directed feature film. It has previously participated in ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at Cannes and received a positive review. The title is a reference to thermal inversion, a meteorological condition causing air pollution. The drama centers around a woman, Niloufar (acted by Sahar Dolatshahi), who decides to take charge and find ways to better express herself in the smog-teeming metropolis of Tehran.

MedFilm Festival is the oldest international film festival in Rome and the first festival in Italy dedicated to the promotion of Mediterranean and European cinema. MedFilm Festival was established in 1995 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Cinema and the Barcelona Declaration. Based on the conviction that Diversity is a Value, it encourages relations, cooperation and the development of the film industry between neighbouring countries.

behzradi-behnam-iranian-film-directorABOUT BEHNAM BEHZADI
Behzadi was born in 1972 in Boroujen, Iran. He obtained a master’s degree in filmmaking in Tehran and directed over 20 feature films, short works, tv movies and documentaries. He has also written scripts, worked in editing and collaborated with various scriptwriters including Bahman Ghobadi with whom he was co-script writer for the film ‘Nive mang/Half Moon’.

His first short film ‘Retaliation gained an international success, winning the second prize of FIPA 2000 in France. In 2008 his first feature film ‘Before the Burial’ was awarded in several international festivals. In 2013 ‘Bending the rules’ won the special jury prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, the audience award at Nantes and the Special Prize at Mannheim. Behzadi teaches cinema at Tehran University of Art.

Sources: Mehr News Agency, MedFilm Festival | About, MedFilm Festival | Brochure (“Beyond Words”: p. 9-10 ), MedFilm Festival | Inversion, Persian Film Festival in Australia | B. Behzadi

Iranian movies at Munich Filmfest

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A lineup of Iranian movies will go on screen from June 23rd to July 2nd in various sections of the 34th Filmfest München.

Asghar Farhadi’s acclaimed drama “The Salesman” will be shown in the CineMasters Competition. The social drama won awards for best screenplay and best actor at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in May.

Two other highlights will go on screen in the International Independents section: “Avalanche” by Morteza Farshbaf and “Yahya Didn’t Keep Quiet” by Kaveh Ebrahimpur.

The festival is also presenting a retrospective of Bahman Ghobadi’s work with films like “A time for drunken horses” (2000), “Turtles can fly” (2004), “No one knows about Persian cats” (2009), and “Rhino season” (2012).

Bahman Ghobadi is an Iranian film director of Kurdish ethnicity born in 1969 in Baneh, near the Iraqi border. He belongs to the “new wave” of Iranian cinema. His first feature film “A time for drunken horses” won the Camera d’Or in Cannes in 2000.

Iranian film “No one knows about Persian Cats” by Bahman Ghobadi (2009)
Iranian film “A time for drunken horses” by Bahman Ghobadi (Zamani barayé masti asbha, 2000)
Iranian film “Avalanche” by Morteza Farshbaf (Bahman, 2015)
Iranian film “Rhino season” by Bahman Ghobadi (Fasle Kargadan, 2012)
Iranian film “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi (Forushande, 2016)
Iranian film “Yahya didn’t keep quiet” by Kaveh Ebrahimpour (Yahya sokoot nakard, 2015)

Source: Filmfest München | Iranian Films, Tehran Times

“The Salesman” crew received a warm welcome in Iran after winning two awards at Cannes Festival (Photos)

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Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi and actors Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti got an overwhelming welcome in Tehran after arriving home from the 69th Cannes Film Festival, where Farhadi won the best screenplay prize and Shahab Hosseini received the Palme d’Or for best actor.

The film, whose screenplay was also written by Farhadi, is about Emad (Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) who move into a new flat in the center of Tehran. An incident linked to the previous tenant dramatically changes the young couple’s life.

Shahab Hosseini and Asghar Farhadi had worked together in “A Separation“. The first Iranian film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012. “A Separation” also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress and Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini and Peyman Moaadi), becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. Farhadi’s “The Past” (Le Passé) had been nominated for a Palme d’Or in 2013.

Iranian film “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi (Forushande, 2016)

Sources: Festival de Cannes, Tehran Times 1, Payvand Iran News, Wikipedia | A Separation, Facebook | Festival de Cannes – Page Officielle, Tehran Times 2, Mehr News Agency 1, ISCA, Tehran Picture Agency, Mehr News Agency 2,

Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival – Winners (Photos)

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The closing ceremony of 34th Fajr International Film Festival was held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall. 150 international guests from 20 countries attended the festival, watched films and participated at different sections of the six day long event.

In the main competition section, “Rams”, a humanist drama by Icelandic director Grimur Hákonarson, won the Golden Simorgh for Best Film and its protagonists, actors Sigurður Sigurjónsson and Theódór Júlíusson, shared the Best Actor award. “Frenzy” by Emin Alper from Turkey was awarded the Silver Simorgh for Best Director and Iranian actress Pantea Panahiha won the Best Actress award for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar.

Spanish film “Amama: When a tree falls” written and directed by Asier Altuna Iza won the Silver Simorgh for Best Script. “Arvand” by Iranian director Pouria Azarbayjani received the Special Jury Prize. “Seen” by Soheil Amirsharifi from Iran won the Best Short Film award.

In Eastern Vista Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov received the Best Film Trophy for “Walnut Tree”. “Madam Courage” by Algerian director Merzak Allouache won the Best Director award. Iranian documentary “A157” by Behroz Nouranjipour received a Special Mention.

Winners of the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mitra Samavaki / Young Journalists Club)
Best Actress Silver Simorgh winner Pantea Panahiha for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mitra Samavaki / Young Journalists Club)
Music performance at the closing ceremony of the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
Iranian director Mehdi Ghorbanpour winner of the Interfaith Award for “Zemnaco” at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Interfaith Award Special Mention Diploma for “Hasti” by Iranian director Kamal Parnak at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Armin Karami / Fars News Agency)
“Love marriage in Kabul” directed by Amin Palangi was the winner in the Muhammad Al-Ameen category at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
“Walnut tree” by Kazakh director Yerlan Nurmukhambetov won the Best Film Trophy in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
“Madam Courage” by Algerian director Merzak Allouache won the Best Director Trophy in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
“A157” by Iranian director Behrooz Nouranjipour received a Special Mention in the Eastern View section at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Mahmood Hosseini / Tasnim News Agency)
Best Film Golden Simorgh was awarded to “Rams” by Icelandic director Grimu Hákonarson at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Director Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Frenzy” by Turkish director Emin Alper at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Best Actress Silver Simorgh winner Pantea Panahiha for her role in “Breath” by Narges Abyar at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Vahid Khodadi / Azad News Agency)
Best Actor Silver Simorgh was shared by Icelandic actors Sigurður Sigurjónsson and Theódór Júlíusson for ther role in “Rams” at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Script Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Amama: When a tree falls” written and directed by Asier Altuna Iza at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: IRNA)
Special Jury Prize Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Arvand” by Iranian director Pouria Azarbayjani at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Ali Najib / ISCA News)
Best Short Film Silver Simorgh was awarded to “Seeing” by Iranian director Soheil Amirsharifi at the 34th Fajr International Film Festival held at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, Iran (Photo credit: Babak Borzouye / Mehr News Agency)

“Zemnaco” by Iranian director Mehdi Ghorbanpour won the Interfaith Award. “Hasti” directed by Kamal Parnak from Iran and “Love Marriage in Kabul” by Australian filmmaker Amin Palangi received a Special Mention Diploma. His film was the winner in the Muhammad Al-Ameen section.

“Dawn” by Latvian director Laila Pakalnina was awarded the Trophy for Best Film and “Figura” directed by Katarzyna Gondek from Poland received the   Trophy for Best Short Film in the Art and Experience category.

The 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival was held from April 20th to April 25th, 2016 in Tehran’s Charsou Cineplex, under supervision of Iranian filmmaker, Reza Mirkarimi, current Managing Director of Khaneh Cinema, Iran’s Alliance of Motion Picture Associations.

Sources: FIFF 2016, Azad News Agency, Borna News, Fars News, IRNA, ISCA, ISNA, Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, Tasnim News Agency, Young Journalists Club

Fajr International Film Festival: Overview (Photos)

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A wide range of movies, documentaries and shorts by directors from around the globe were screened this April during the 34th Fajr International Film Festival.

Fifteen featured films competed in the official section, including “Guaraní” by Luis Zorraquín (Argentina, Paraguay), “1944” by Elmo Nüganen (Estonia, Finland), “El Clásico” by Halkawt Mustafa (Iraq, Norway), “Norfolk” by Martin Radich (United Kingdom) and “The Treasure” by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania, France), the winner of the Prix Un Certain Talent prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. (Details: FIFF 2016 | International competition | Featured films)

This section also included eighteen short films from Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Iran, Ireland, Russian Federation, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and Venezuela. (Details: FIFF 2016 | International competition | Short films)

Directors Majid Majidi and Nasser Taqvai from Iran, Chinese filmmaker and producer Tian Zhuangzhuang, Spanish director José Luis Guerín, producers Ivo Felt from Estonia and Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan from Turkey and Canadian writer Emmanuel Prevost were the official competition’s jury members.

Eastern Vista, a segment dedicated to films from Asian and Muslim nations, included “Solomon” by Zaza Khalvashi from Georgia and “My Sister, the Pig Lady” by Jang Moon-il from South Korea. A jury formed by Iranian actress Golab Adine, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Karimi, Indian actor and producer Jaaved Jaaferi, French-Moroccan director Ismael Feroukhi and Italian writer Teresa Cavina selected the winners of Best Asian Film and Best Asian Director from a total of sixteen movies from twelve different countries. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Eastern Vista)

Directors Andrew Lau from Hong Kong, Alexander Sokurov from Russia and French journalist and critic Jean-Michel Frodon attended the festival. Special Screenings, a section focusing on documentaries, presented Sokurov’s new feature, Francofonia and Jia Zhang-ke by Brazilian director Walter Salles, writtern by Salles and Frodon. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Special screenings)

Ten films were screened outside competition, including “The Assassin”, a martial arts drama by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien and “Lamb” by American director Ross Partridge. (Full list: FIFF 2016 | Festival of Festivals)

The festival highlighted French cinema, as one of its side section programs, screening “The Fear” by Damian Odoul (2015), “Rabid Dogs” by Eric Hannezo (2015), “The Little Prince” by Mark Osborne (2015), “The Measure of a Man” by Stéphane Brizé (2015), “The Clearstream Affair” by Vincent Garenq (2014) and “Anton Chekhov 1890” Rene Feret (2015).

A restored version of Dariush Mehrjui’s acclaimed 1969 drama “The Cow” was screened along with “The Lover’s Wind” by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse (1978) and “The Country of Lion and Sun: Persia” by Vladimir Erofeev (1935). A photo exhibition with selected scenes of “The Cow” and “The Lover’s Wind” was also held at Charsou Cineplex.

A number of top Iranian cineastes, including Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi , actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, actor Reza Kianian and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Majid Majidi, have held a series of workshops on the sidelines of the festival. Over 100 students from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Iran attended the six-day workshop program entitled “Dar ul-Funun”, the name of the Iranian polytechnic established in 1851.

The 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival was held from April 20th to April 25th, 2016 in Tehran’s Charsou Cineplex, under supervision of Iranian filmmaker, Reza Mirkarimi, current Managing Director of Khaneh Cinema, Iran’s Alliance of Motion Picture Associations.

Sources: Tehran Times, Fajr International Film Festival, kinokultura.com, Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, Young Journalists Club (YJC) 1, YJC 2, YJC 3, YJC 4, YJC 5, YJC 6, Azad News Agency (ANA) 1, ANA 2, Borna News Agency (BNA) 1, BNA 2, BNA 3, BNA 4, BNA 5, BNA 6, Fars News Agency (FNA) 1, FNA 2, FNA 3, FNA 4, IRNA 1, IRNA 2, IRNA 3, IRNA 4, IRNA 5, IRNA 6. IRNA 7, IRNA 8, ISCA 1, ISCA 2, ISNA 1, ISNA 2, ISNA 3, ISNA 4, ISNA 5, ISNA 6, ISNA 7, Tasnim News Agency (TNA) 1, TNA 2, TNA 3, TNA 4, TNA 5, TNA 6, TNA 7, TNA 8, TNA 9, Borna News Agency (BNA) 1, BNA 2, BNA 3, BNA 4, BNA 5, BNA 6, Tehran Picture Agency (TPA) 1, TPA 2, TPA 3, TPA 4, TPA 5

Three Iranian films won awards at Garden State Film Festival in New Jersey

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The Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) is a film festival in the United States held in Atlantic City, New Jersey which showcases over 150 independent films annually. Three Iranian movies won awards at the 14th GSFF held this year from March 31st to April 3rd.

“Oblivion Season” by director Abbas Rafei and “Ashes” by Alan Coulson from the UK shared the International Narrative Feature Award. The movie “Oblivion Season”, starring Sareh Bayat and Pejman Bazeghi, is about an ex-prostitute who starts a new life by marrying her lover but leaving the shadow of her dark past turns out not to be as easy as it had seemed beforehand.

“Lima” by Afshin Roshanbakht and Vahid Jafari received the International Animated Short Film Award. Lima repeats old memories trying to remember his lost father until he himself gets old.

“Blue-Eyed Boy” directed by Amir-Masoud Soheili won the International Narrative Short Film Award. The film tells the story of a young boy suffering from an unusual type of color blindness that causes him to see the world in blue.

Sources: Tehran Times, Wikipedia | Garden State Film Festival, Mehr News Agency, imdb, gsff.org

Iranian documentary wins Amnesty International Film Prize

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Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Starless Dreams’ (Royahaye Dame Sobh) along with ‘Fuocoammare’ (Fire at Sea) by Gianfranco Rosi have won the Amnesty International Film Prize at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Rosi’s documentary film about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean off the Italian island of Lampedusa, won also the Golden Bear prize for Best Film.

Oskouei, one of Iran’s best documentary filmmakers, explores in ‘Starless Dreams’ the anguish and joys of girls in a juvenile correctional facility on the outskirts of Tehran. His small, all-male crew spent 20 days talking to the young women who gave them surprising access to their lives and feelings. The film won in Iran the Best Documentary Director Award at the 34th Fajr Film Festival earlier this year.

The German branch of Amnesty International has awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize for the first time at the Berlinale 2005. The aim of the prize is to draw the attention of audiences and representatives of the film industry to the theme of human rights and encourage filmmakers to tackle this topic. German actress Meret Becker, Swiss film maker Dani Levy and Markus Beeko, Director of Campaigns and Communications for Amnesty International Germany were the members of this independent jury at the Berlinale 2016.

Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei (1st R) and Italian director Gianfranco Rosi (2nd L) with Jury members Dani Levy (1st L) and Meret Becker (2nd R) in Berlin - Feb 20, 2016. Photo credits: Henning Schacht / Amnesty International

Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei (1st R) and Italian director Gianfranco Rosi (2nd L) with Jury members Dani Levy (1st L) and Meret Becker (2nd R) in Berlin – Feb 20, 2016. Photo credits: Henning Schacht / Amnesty International

About Mehrdad Oskouei
Oskouei, an independent producer, filmmaker, photographer and researcher, was born in Tehran, Iran in 1969. He has a B.A. in film direction from the University of Arts, starting in the theatre in 1981 and the film world in 1988. In 2010, Oskouei received the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Berlinale, Hollywod Reporter, Reuters, Wikipedia | Starless Dreams, Fajr Film Festival (in Persian)

Zurich Film Festival Hosting Iranian Films

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The 2015 Zurich Film Festival (September 24- October 4) is hosting Iranian films in the New World View section of the festival.

Every Year, in the out-of-competition section, the Festival has dedicated the New World Section to films from a foreign country. In the past years, films from India (2014), Brazil (2013), Sweden (2012) and Turkey (2011) have been selected for this section. This year ZFF is hosting films from Iran.

A total of 11 films from Iran will be screened: “13” by Houman Seyyedi, “Fish and Cat” by Shahram Mokri, “Atomic Heart” by Ali Ahmadzadeh, “Bright Day” by Hossein Shahabi, “I am not Angry” by Reza Darmishian, “Nahid” by Ayda Panahandeh, “Profession Documentarist” by Shirin Barghnavard, “Paradise” by Sina Ataian, “Acid Rain” by Behtash Sanaiha, “What’s the Time in Your World” by Safi Yazdanian and “Wednesday May 9” by Vahid Jalilvand.

Source: tavoosonline.com

‘A Tribute to Gohar Kheirandish’, a documentary by Iranian director Pouria Heidary Oureh

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Director: Pouria Heidary Oureh, 2015, Iran, 83 minutes,
Cast: Gohar Kheirandish [in person], Asghar Farhadi, Leila Hatami, Ezzatollah Entezami, Niki Karimi, Tahmineh Milani, Bahram Radan, Mahnaz Afshar, Ebrahim Hatamikai, Bahman Farmanara, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Kianush Ayyari…

Iranian Film Festival in San Francisco - A Tribute to Gohar KheirandishPlot:
Gohar Kheirandish, the legendary stage and screen actress was born in 1954 in Shiraz, Iran. She started her acting career with a theatrical group in Shiraz while still in high school, where she also met her future husband, Jamshid Esmailkhani, who was active in theater. During this period, she was working for the Department of Art and Culture in Shiraz. In 1978 she was accepted to the University of Tehran when she and her husband and children moved to Tehran in order for her to pursue her education. She later graduated from the College of Arts. While in university, she started acting in theater, television and cinema. Her first film was Days of Waiting. Her film career spans more than two decades with such notable films as: Banoo [Lady] (1999), The Mix (2000), Low Heights (2002), Donya [World] (2003), The Fifth Reaction (2003), Tradition of Lover Killing (2004), Maxx (2005), Ghaedeye Bazi (2007), Shirin (2008), Tehran 1500 (2013), Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others (2014), Iran Burger (2015).

She has won many awards including: Best Actress for Tradition of Lover Killing at Fajr Film Festival, Best Actress for Low Heights by Iranian Writers and Film Critics as well as Fajr Film Festival, Best Actress for The Fifth Reaction by House of Cinema…

About Pouria Heidary Oureh:
Pouria Heidary Oureh was born in Tehran in 1984. He is a digital filmmaking graduate from SAE Institute in Dubai. He started his professional career in the cinema in 2008. With his first short film Beyond the Dead End, he attended 28 international festivals and won 12 awards. His second short film Hypothesis of Social Learning dealt with the negative effects of watching the hanging in the public on the children, and it was praised by University of Hamburg and Amnesty International, and then attended other festivals.

Gohar Kheirandish filmography is Pouria Heidary Oureh’s first feature length documentary, and he is now making his first feature film in Armenia.

Source: iranianfilmfestival | A Tribute to Gohar Kheirandish

‘The President’, a film by awarded Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf

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Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 2014, Georgia, /France/UK/Germany, 105 minutes,
Cast: Misha Gomiashvili, Dachi Orvelashvili
Festivals: Venice Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Warsaw International Film Festival

More info about director Mohsen Makhmalbaf: click here

Persian Film Festival Australia Iran Sidney Movie Trailer The PresidentPlot: In an imaginary village in the Caucasus, a President is on the run with his five-year-old grandson following a coup d’état. The two travel across the lands that the President once governed. Now, disguised as a street musician to avoid being recognized, the former dictator comes into contact with his people, and gets to know them from a different point of view.

The President and his family rule their land with an iron fist, enjoying lives of luxury and leisure at the expense of their population’s misery. When a coup d’état overthrows his brutal rule and the rest of his family flees the country by plane, The President is suddenly left to care for his young grandson and forced to escape. Now the country’s most wanted fugitive with a bounty on his head, The President begins a perilous journey with the boy, criss-crossing the country to reach the sea where a ship waits to bring them to safety. Posing as street musicians and traveling together with the people who suffered for years under the dictatorship, the fallen President and the innocent child will be exposed first hand to the hardships that inspired unanimous hatred for the regime.

Trailer:

Sources: http://www.iranianfilmfestival.org/all-date-list/the-president/ , Youtube

4th Persian Film Festival in Sydney, Australia, from September 3rd to 6th, 2015

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The 4th Persian Film Festival is on from September 3rd to 6th at Palace Norton Street Cinemas, showcasing the best of Iranian cinema and the Persian speaking world. Over four days the festival offers its viewers a great line-up of 22 films including features, documentaries, short films and animations, and Q&A sessions with filmmakers from Iran, USA and Australia.

The festival is hosting a free screening of a number of award winning short films and animations from across Iran and from Iranian filmmakers in Australia, including the screening of Oscar nominated Simorgh by Meghdad Asadi, and current official selection at MIFF 2015 The Phoenix by Nora Nasiri, as well as, Sydney based filmmaker’s How Can Be Both by Saeed Sourati.

The displayed Movies and their directors are:

The President by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
A Few Cubic Meters of Love by Jamshid Mahmoudi
Block 9 Exit 2 by Alireza Amini
The Ride (Darbast) by Ali Khameparast Fard
I Want To Be A King by Mehdi Ganji
Impression-xps160 by Tiyam Yabandeh

Other films are:

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Ranging in subject matter and style, the films offer short glimpses into contemporary and important social and cultural issues.

Opening Film: The President by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Opening Film: The President by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Other posts about Iranian cinema and its stars: click here

Sources: Persian Film Festival, Persian Film Festival | Free sessions, Persian Film Festival | Directors, Persian Film Festival | Movies

Iran’s ‘Cloudy Children’ from Reza Fahimi is the Grand Prix winner at ‘SSFF and Asia’

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Iranian filmmaker Reza Fahimi’s Cloudy Children emerged as the big winner at the Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia (SSFF & ASIA) 2015, receiving the Grand Prix of the event that was held in Tokyo and Yokohama from June 4 to 14.

Set in a central Iranian village, the film narrates the story of two students fighting over things that they could never have, and in the end they share everything that does not belong to them.

In 2004, the festival was officially accredited by the Academy Awards, making the festival Grand Prix winner eligible for nomination in the short film category of the academy.

About Reza Fahimi
Reza Fahimi, born 1987 in Iran, is a scriptwriter and a director. He studied filmmaking at the Soore Art University of Tehran, with Directing as a major. Cloudy Children is his second short film. It was awarded Best Film, Best Direction (Fiction Film) and Best Screenplay at Tehran International Short Film Festival, 2014, Iran.

Filmmaker Reza Fahimi holds the Grand Prix award for his short film “Cloudy Children” during the closing ceremony of the 2015 Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia

Sources: Tehran Times | News, shortshorts.org | Program 2015 | Cloudy Children, tehranisff.ir | 31st TISFF Announces Winners in National Competition Section

5th International Urban Film Festival underway in Tehran, Iran

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Tehran, Iran - 5th International Urban Film Festival 1 - PosterIran’s 5th International Urban Film Festival is running from May 24 to June 2 in eleven movie theaters across Tehran.

More than 360 productions will take part in this year’s national and international competition sections, presenting short and feature-length films, as well as documentaries and animations from Iran, China, Egypt, the US, Britain, Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia and other countries.

The festival is also holding filmmaking, cinematography and scriptwriting workshops for cinema enthusiasts of all ages.

International cineastes Krzysztof Zanussi, Dina Iordanova, Deborah Young and Caroline Otto are scheduled to hold several master classes at the Mellat Cinema Complex during the 5th International Urban Film Festival.

Zanussi, 76, is a renowned Polish filmmaker and screenwriter. Zanussi, whose work was noticed during his activities in the amateur film movement in the 1950s and 1960s, is also a professor at the Silesian University in Katowice.

Iordanova, a professor of film studies at University of St Andrews, focuses on transnational cinema, global film industries and film festivals, as well as on Eastern European and Balkan cinema.

American film critic Young is an editor of the Hollywood Reporter, and Film Comment Magazine. Based in Rome, Italy, she has reviewed films from around the world since the 1990’s, when she was appointed Rome bureau chief for Variety.

Active as a screenwriter and director Otto is a member of the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (FSE). She was also the head of the script funding commission of the German film board during 2009-2013.

Sources: Press TV | News, Tehran Times | News

The Fish & I: Awarded Iranian short film by Babak Habibifar

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The Fish and I is an Iranian short film directed, written and acted by Babak Habibifar that recounts the story of a blind man trying to save his fish. The film, screened at the 2015 Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival (Young Audience Program), has won several international honors:

  • Young Jurors Prize; 20min|max Internationales Short Film Festival Ingolstadt, Germany (June, 2015)
  • Special Audience Award; 12th CLAM International Film Festival of Solidarity in Navarcles, Spain (May, 2015)
  • Best Short Film; 6th Skepto International Film Festival in Cagliari, Italy (April, 2015)
  • Honorable Mention; 11th Rengo International Film Festival, Rengo, Chile (February 2015)
  • Special Jury Mention, Young Jury Prize for the Best International Short Film and Mediterranean Diet Award (a cash prize dedicated by a Spanish Institution); 16th International Short Film Festival “City of Soria” in Soria, Spain (November, 2014)
  • Jury Grand Prize and Audience Award; Short Short Story Film Festival in Providence, USA (November, 2014)
  • Most Original Film; Uhvati Film Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia (September, 2014)

About Babak Habibifar
Babak Habibifar is an Iranian writer and director. His short fictions include The Fish and I (2014), After seventeen hours (2013), Somewhere up there (2013) and After fifteen years (also known as Crossword puzzle, 2012). This last film was highlighted by the Jury at the 2013 Strawberry Shorts Film Festival in Cambridge, England. Besides directing, Habibifar has worked as an actor and is also a gifted photographer, having won several photography awards in national competitions.

Sources: Mehr News Agency | News, Art Film Festival | Portfolio | Babak Habibifar, Green Film Festival in Seoul | The Fish and I, NacióDigital.cat | CLAM Festival, Skepto International Film Festival 2015 | Awards and Special Mentions, Rengo International Film Festival, Heraldo.es | Noticias, Press TV | News, Merging Arts Productions | SSS Film Festival, Uhvati Film Festival | Awards, The House of Films | News, 20min|max Film Festival, Odense Film Festival (OFF15), indiehometv.festhome.com (all awards and screenings)

Safi Yazdanian: Iranian film director

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Safi Yazdanian, born 1960 in Tehran, is an Iranian film director, writer, translator and film critic. He graduated in Theater and Cinema Studies in 1988, starting his career as a reviewer and columnist in Iranian magazines.

In 1995 he ventured into filmmaking. His earliest films, documentaries and shorts, include:
– In search of Scheherazade (Dar jostojouy-e shahrzad, 2002) with Leila Hatami as narrator
– My boats (Ghayegh-ha-ye man, 35mm, 2005), with Ali Mosaffa as Farhad, was Yazdanian’s first short fiction. It won the Best Film Award at Tehran’s International Short Film Festival
– Entracte, 2009.

Yazdanian’s feature directorial debut was 2014 with What’s the time in your world? (Dar donya-ye to saát chand ast?). The movie premiered at the 19th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF 2014) and was honored with the FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de la Press Cinematographique) Award.

Besides directing he also edited Nahid Reazaei’s documentaries The water and Atefeh (Ab va Atefeh, 2001) and Dream of silk (Khab-e abrisham, 2003) and wrote together with Ali Mosaffa Mosaffa’s first feature film Portrait of a lady far away (Sima-ye zani dar doordast).

Sources: IRNA | News, FIPRESCI | People | Safi Yazdanian, Festival Scope | Director | Yazdanian, Safi, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam | Industry, Clermont International Short Film Festival | Safi Yazdanian , Cinéma du Réel | Archives | Ab va Atefeh, Cinéma du Réel | Archives | Khab-e abrisham, IMDb | Portrait of a Lady Far Away, Guest List 2014 Busan International Film Festival (PDF), BIFF | History | 19th (2014) | Safi Yazdanian

Reza Mirkarimi: Awarded Iranian film director

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Reza Mirkarimi, born 1966 in Tehran, is an Iranian film writer and director. He graduated from Fine Arts University in Graphic Arts. His cinema activities began in 1987 with a series of shorts followed by two TV series aimed at young people.

His 1999 first feature, ‘The Child and The Soldier’, has won several national and international awards. In 2000 his second feature ‘Under the Moonlight’, dealing with social and religious issues won the Best Feature Award at the 40th Critics’ Week at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival.

Three of his films have been presented by Iran for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: ‘ So Close, So Far’, ‘A Cube of Sugar’ and his current feature, ‘Today’ Reza Mirkarimi has also sat on several international film festival juries.

Filmography (as director)
– 2000: Koodak va Sarbaz (The Child And The Soldier)
– 2001: Zir-e Noor-e Maah (Under The Moonlight)
– 2002: Inja Cheraghi Roshan Ast (Here Is A Shining Light)
– 2005: Kheili Dour, Kheili Nazdik (So Close, So Far)
– 2008: Be Hamin Sadegi (A Simple as That)
– 2011: Yek Habe Ghand (A Cube of Sugar)
– 2014: Emrooz (Today)

Short Films, Documentary and TV Series
– For Him (Short / 1987)
– A Rainy Day (Short / 1987)
– Rooster (Short / 1987)
– The Adventures of Mrs. Aziz (TV Series / 1996)
– Hemmat School Kids (TV Series 1997)
– Iranian Carpet (Documentary / 2006)

Awards
Film: Koodak va Sarbaz (The Child And The Soldier)
Honor Diploma for Best Director – Fajr International Film Festival 2000
Silver Baloon – Three Continents Festival 2000
Golden Shoe – Zlín Film Festival 2001

Film: Zir-e Noor-e Maah (Under The Moonlight)
Best Director Award tied with Gjergj Xhuvani for Slogans – Tokyo International Film Festival 2001
Special Jury Prize – Beirut International Film Festival 2001
Special Jury Prize – Tokyo International Film Festival 2001
Special Jury Award – Fajr International Film Festival 2001
Critics Week Grand Prize – Cannes Film Festival 2001
Silver Peacock Special Prize of Jury – Delhi International Film Festival 2002

Film: Inja Cheraghi Roshan Ast (Here Is A Shining Light)
Best Screenplay – Asia-Pacific Film Festival 2002
Crystal Simorgh Best Director – Fajr International Film Festival 2003
Special Jury Prize – Bali International Film Festival 2004

Film: Kheili Dour, Kheili Nazdik (So Close, So Far)
Crystal Simorgh Best Film – National Competition, Fajr International Film Festival 2005
Best Film Award – Celebration House of Cinema 2005

Film: Be Hamin Sadegi (A Simple as That)
Golden St. George – 30th Moscow International Film Festival 2008
Russian Guild of Film Critics Award – International Competition, Moscow International Film Festival 2008
Crystal Simorgh Best Director – Fajr International Film Festival 2008
Crystal Simorgh Best Screenplay with Shadmehr Rastin – Competition of Asian Cinema, Fajr International Film Festival 2008
Crystal Simorgh Best Director – Competition of Asian Cinema, Fajr International Film Festival 2008
Crystal Simorgh Best Director – National Competition, Fajr International Film Festival 2008

Film: Yek Habe Ghand (A Cube of Sugar)
Special Jury Prize – Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema 2012
Best Film – Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema 2013

Film: Emrooz (Today)
Best Film Award Rabat International Film Festival 2014

Sources: Wikipedia | Reza Mirkarimi, Internet Movie Data Base | Reza Mirkarimi

Reza Attaran: Awarded Iranian actor, director, screenwriter and singer

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Reza Attaran (born 1968 in Mashhad) is an Iranian actor, director, screenwriter and singer. He won in 2008 the Best Actor Award at the Gol Agha Comedy Festival and is regarded as one of the most creative and prolific Iranian comedy actors.

He graduated from high school in Mashhad majoring in Economy and moved to Tehran to study Industrial Design at the University of Tehran. Despite enjoying his field of study he turned to acting. In 1980s he started playing theatre under Hassan Hamed, portraying non comic roles until 1992 when Hamed passed away.

Attaran made his television debut playing his first comedy role as Reza back in 1994 in the TV Series Happy Hour (Saate Khosh) directed by Mehran Modiri alongside actors like Reza Shafii Jam, Nasrollah Radesh, Arzhang Amirfazli and Nader Soleimani.

In 1994 he married Farideh Faramarzi, a film editor and actress. She played with her husband in the movie Absolute Rest (Esterahate Motlagh) directed by Abdolreza Kahani.

Between 1997 and 2003 he started directing his own TV series where he achieved great recognition and fame for his singing skills. At that time he formed a music band called Dampaei (Slippers) together with Youssef Teimouri and other artists. Since then he has become the most successful comedy series maker in Iranian TV.

Attaran made his debut as a film director in 2011 with I feel sleepy (Khabam Miad). In 2013 he directed and acted in Red Carpet (Farshe Ghermez); Attaran’s sarcastic take on film festivals, fame and stars.

He was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 30th, 31st and 32nd Fajr International Film Festival: In 2012 for I feel sleepy (Khabam Miad), in 2013 for The Corridor (Dehliz) and in 2014 for Sensitive floor (Tabagheye Hasas).

TV shows
Happy Hour (Saate Khosh, as Reza, comedy, 1995-96)
Acacia Alley (as Faramaz, director: Reza Attaran, comedy, 2002-03)
Vagabond (as Ahmad, director: Reza Attaran, comedy, 2004)
The Accused Fled (as Ramin, director: Reza Attaran, comedy, 2005)
Shirin-va-Torsh (as Naser, director: Reza Attaran, comedy, 2007)
Turning Point (as Nader, director: Reza Attaran, comedy, 2008)
Ghalbe Yakhi (as Esfandiar, crime/drama, 2012)

Films
– 2015: Sperm whale (shooting, as Arjang, director: Saman Moghadam)
– 2015: Absolute Rest (Esterahate Motlagh, as Davoud, director: Abdolreza Kahani)
– 2014: Bar Bad Rafteh (Director: Reza Attaran)
– 2013: The Corridor (Dehliz, as Behzad, Director: Behrouz Shoaibi)
– 2013: Red Carpet (Farshe Ghermez, director: Reza Attaran)
– 2013: Sensitive Floor (Tabagheye Hasas, as Kamali, director: Kamal Tabrizi)
– 2013: Kalashnikov (Director: Kamal Tabrizi)
– 2012: By no reason (Bikhod & Bijahat, director: Abdolreza Kahani)
– 2011: I feel sleepy (Khabam Miad, as Reza, Director: Reza Attaran)
– 2010: Whatever God Wants (Harchi Khoda Bekhad, director: Navid Mihandoost)
– 2010: No men allowed (Voroode Aghayan Mamnoo, as Vahid Jebelli, director: Rambod Javan)
– 2010: Absolutely tame is a horse (Asb Heivane Najibi Ast, as Behruz Shakiba, director: Abdolreza Kahani)
– 2009: Az Ma Behtaroon (Director: Mehrdad Farid)
– 2009: Nish O Zanboor (Director: HR Slahmnd)
– 2009: Khoros Jangi (Director: Masood Atyabi)
– 2009: Bad Az Zohre Saghie Saghi
– 2008: Aghaye Haft Rang (Director: Shahram Shah-Hosseini)
– 2008: Empty chair (Sandali Khalli, director: Saman Astrky)
– 2007: Token (Neshani, director: Fereydoun Hassanpour)
– 2007: Tasvie Hesab (Director: Tamineh Milani)
– 2007: Tofighe Ejbari (as Ata, director: Mohammad Hossein Latifi)
– 2007: Quarantine (Gharantineh, director: Manouchehr Hadi)
– 2006: A hat for the rain Kolahi Baraye Baran (Director: Masood Navabi)
– 2006: Tigh Zan (Director: Alireza Davoodinejad)
– 2005: Havoo (Director: Alireza Davoudinejad)
– 2002: Kolah Ghermezi Va Sarvenaz (Director: Iraj Tahmasb)
– 2000: Cinderella (Director: Bijan Birang)
– 1997: Sarzamine Sabz (Director: Bijan Birang)

Awards
Best Actor Award at the 2008 Gol Agha Comedy Festival
Crystal Simorgh for Best Director in the New Vision section at the 30th International Fajr Film Festival for I feel sleepy (Khabam Miad), 2012
Statuette for Best Actor at the 15th House of Cinema Awards for Absolutely tame is a horse (Asb Heivane Najibi Ast)
Statuette of Golden Smile for Best Comedy Actor in the 2nd Sun’s Smile Awards for both Absolutely tame is a horse (Asb Heivane Najibi Ast) & No men allowed (Voroode Aghayan Mamnoo)
Diploma of Honor for Best Actor at the 6th Critics & Writers Guild’s Awards for By no reason (Bikhod & Bijahat), 2012

Sources: Wikipedia | Reza Attaran, Reza Attaran | Biography, picbazi.com | The legendary Attaran, Iran Novin Film | Red Carpet – Director’s Biography

Iranian Film “Dingomaro – Iran’s Black South” by Kamran Heidari

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Since his Internet hit, “Bad Shans” (hard luck), Hamid Saeid has become one of the best-known Iranian musicians with African roots. He’s travelling by motorbike across the province of Hormozgan, which is situated in the South of the country on the Persian Gulf, in order to realize his dream. He wants to organize a concert with the best black musicians in the country.

Besides Persians, Indians, Arabs and Europeans, the province of Hormozgan, Iran’s “black south” has been influenced primarily by the descendants of slaves and merchants from Africa. Although Shiites, they still hold Voodoo ceremonies just as their African ancestors did and wakes in Hormozgan are more reminiscent of scenes from New Orleans, with the mourners dancing in an elated and joyous manner to black rhythms.

Filmmaker Kamran Heidari accompanies Hamid Saeid as he attempts to make his dream come true. He must overcome numerous hurdles along the way: Hormozgan’s landscape, which is as inhospitable as it is breathtaking, traveling from the coast over rugged mountains to the desert, the African spirit rites; and the resistance of his wife, who is completely against his plan.

In an Interview Mr. Heidari talks about the healing tradition of Zar in the south of Iran: “There are wild winds (Dingomaro) coming from Africa and these winds are always in movement. Sometimes these winds take over ones body and then they will stay inside. This is when the Zar ceremony becomes necessary”.

The healers and masters of Zar ceremonies are called Mama Zar or Baba Zar, depending on gender, and by beating the drums and chanting MamaZar or BabaZar will drive these wild winds away. During the filming of the documentary, Kamran Heidari was asked many times to let Mama Zar drive the Dingomaro away from his body but he declined saying that he has made peace with these African wind spirits and has made friends with them. He would like to keep them in his heart.

By incorporating African rhythms into the music that he plays, Saeid succeeds in preserving his heritage that he then shares with others. But, at the same time, cultures are dynamic: by mixing African and Iranian beats, he is recreating traditions and moulding them into a new form of hybrid identity. Holding an ‘African-style’ concert in an area where many have rejected, or forgotten about their roots can be challenging. Heidari, together with Saeid, show us how to value this cultural heritage and give it a meaning through music. It was screened as part of the UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema in May 2014.

Dingomaro – Iran’s Black South (trailer):

Director: Kamran Heidari
Film by: Kamran Heidari, Dariusch Rafiy
DoP: Sajjad Avarand
Camera: Kamran Heidari, Bahman Kiarostami, Hasan Rastin
Editor: Kamran Heidari, Martin Homel
Assistant: Tahereh Alavizadeh
Sound Recording: Mohamad Hossein Kaveh
Sound Mix: Kamyar Behbahani
Photography: Tahereh Alavizadeh
Producer: Dariush Rafi-y, Kambiz Khorram
Documentary / 66 min / Color / HD-Video / 16:9 / 2013 / IRAN

Sources: The Culture Trip | Kamran Heidari’s universal cinema beauty and humanity from Iran, Kamran Heidari Official Site | Films, Autentic | Dingomaro – Iran’s Black South, Blog Africa to Persia

Kamran Heidari: Iranian film director and photographer

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Born in 1977, in Gachsaran, close to the old city of Shiraz, Heidari directs documentaries and films about the lives of the people who come from his region. In 2012, Heidari directed his very first full-length documentary about the life of the eccentric and touching figure of Negahdar Jamali from Shiraz.

In 2013, Heidari directed another documentary, also on the life of an eccentric and touching person with a dream; Hamid Saeed, one of the best-known Iranian musicians with African roots.

One day while I was taking photos in Shiraz’s old neighborhood near the bazaar where century-old houses were falling into ruin I saw some beautiful writing on a wall which said “don’t know”.

I took a picture of the wall. As I was editing the photo and looking again at the writing it made me wonder about the person who wrote it? Did he or she write the words in a good mood or were they in a philosophical state of mind?

Rumi, the great Persian poet and philosopher wrote that “I” is a euphoric state — “What I know, what I know”. This “I” is what I think about when I take photos — it has become my overall concept for the Shiraz Street Photos series.

These old neighbourhoods serve as my photo workshop, the walls are my interior design and I carry my studio on my back. The subjects of these portraits stand in front of walls scrawlled with text — text full of sadness, happiness, pleasure, love, but also full of hope for life.

Apart from text, these walls incorporate other elements such as telephone and electrical cables, heater vents, and cracks, which make this environment even more attractive to me. These people represent the “don’t know” text on the walls. One can view them from an anthropological perspective — the geographic sections of the city of Shiraz become the backdrops for its’ inhabitants. In all of the photos the subjects look somewhat surreal. Kamran Heidari’s on Shiraz Street Photo Series

EXHIBITION
2014: “Good News from Iran”, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich Germany (Isfahan Gate Series and Shiraz Street Photos Series) – Curators: Stefan-Maria Mittendorf and Mojgan Endjavi-Barbé

FILMOGRAPHY
2004: “Dash Akol” (Documentary, 18min)
2006: Mohammad Bahman Beigi (Documentary, 40min)
2006: The Big Red (Short film, 14min)
2007: Comfortably Numb (Feature, 85min)
2008: At the End of Perfect day (Documentary, 50min)
2010: The Dead Sea (Documentary, 30min)
2011: Mola Sadra (Documentary, 30min)
2012: My name is Negahdar Jamali and I make westerns (Documentary, 65min)
2014: Dingomaro – Iran’s Black South (Documentary, 45min)

Sources: The Culture Trip | Kamran Heidari’s universal cinema beauty and humanity from Iran, Endjavi-Barbé Art Projects | Kamran Heidari, Kamran Heidari Official Site

UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema 2015

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UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema 2015The UCLA Film and Television Archive is pleased to once again explore the diverse currents of Iranian cinema with its annual series highlighting recent and classic films from Iran and the Iranian diaspora.

The Program “UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema”, funded by the Farhang Foundation, will take place from April 25, 2015 to May 16, 2015 at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood Village, Los Angeles, USA.

Film directors Rakhshan Banietemad (4/25), Shahram Mokri (4/26), Kamran Heidari (4/27), Sepideh Farsi (5/8), Zhinous Pedram (5/10) and Amir Badie (5/16) will be attending in-person to discuss their work.

In the wake of Asghar Farhadi’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar win for A Separation in 2011, the depth and breadth of Iranian cinema today continues to amaze even as the challenges faced by its filmmakers remain of concern.

While established masters continue to make their unique voices heard, including writer-director Rakhshan Banietemad, whose award-winning Tales opens this year’s series, newer filmmakers continue to captivate.  Farhadi’s influence can be felt in a number of outstanding, tightly-wound contemporary dramas by emerging directors (Melbourne, I’m Not Angry), while others are charting radically different paths visually and narratively (Fish & Cat, 316).

Screening schedule:

Saturday, April 25
Bani-E'temad, Rakhshan - Film 2014 - Tales (Ghesse-ha)TALES (Ghesse-ha) / 7:30 PM /
In person: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (DIR)
Iran, 2014 / 91 min. / DIR: Rakhshan Banietemad /
CAST: Fatemeh Motamed Aria, Peyman Moaadi, Baran Kosari

Winner of the Best Screenplay award in Venice, writer, writer-director Rakhshan Banietemad’s return to fiction filmmaking is a tour-de-force portrait of a people and a society at the breaking point.

Sunday, April 26
Dormishian, Reza - Film 2014 - I'm not angry (Asabani nistam!)I’M NOT ANGRY (Asabani nistam!) / 3:00 PM
Iran, 2014 / 110 min. / DIR: Reza Dormishian /
CAST: Baran Kosari, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Reza Behoudi

Director Reza Dormishian’s second feature bluntly depicts the seething frustrations of a generation through the emotional and personal struggles of a student activist trying to get his life on track.

Mokri, Shahram - Film 2013 - Fish & Cat (Mahi va gorbeh)FISH & CAT (Mahi va gorbeh) / 7:00 PM /
In person: Shahram Mokri (DIR)
Iran, 2013 / 134 min. / DIR: Shahram Mokri /
CAST: Babak Karimi, Saeed Ebrahimifar, Siavash Cheraghipoor

With Fish & Cat, writer-director Shahram Mokri emerges as an original new voice in Iranian cinema, blending bravura technical skills with a boldly absurdist, apocalyptic vision.

Monday, April 27
Heidari, Kamran - Film 2012 - My name is Negahdar Jamali and I make westerns - PosterMY NAME IS NEGAHDAR JAMALI AND I MAKE WESTERNS / 7:30 PM /
In person: Kamran Heidari (DIR)
Iran, 2013 / 65 min. / DIR: Kamran Heidari / CAST: Negahdar Jamali

Utterly unexpected and thoroughly charming, director Kamran Heidari’s debut documentary about an amateur filmmaker in southwestern Iran explodes preconceived notions and illuminates the universal power of cinema.

Friday, May 1
Mirkarimi, Reza - Film 2014 - Today (Emrouz) 2TODAY (Emrouz) / 7:30 PM
Iran, 2014 / 88 min. / DIR: Reza Mirkarimi /
CAST: Parviz Parastui, Soheila Golestani, Shabnam Moghadami

Iran’s official submission for Oscar consideration, writer-director Reza Mirkarimi’s tense, powerful drama unfolds over a single day after a cab driver allows himself to be drawn into the personal crisis of a woman who jumps into his backseat.

Saturday, May 2
Attaran, Reza - Film 2014 - Red Carpet (Farshe Ghermez)RED CARPET (Farshe Ghermez) / 7:30 PM
Iran, 2014 / 80 min. / DIR: Reza Attaran /
CAST: Reza Attaran, Marc Ansari, Susan Parvar

One of Iran’s most famous comedians, Reza Attaran, takes on Hollywood and the international media in this hilarious but gentle satire.


Wednesday, May 6
Yazdanian, Safi - Film 2014 - What's the time in your world (Dar donyaye to sa’at chand ast) - Poster 2WHAT’S THE TIME IN YOUR WORLD? (Dar donyaye to sa’at chand ast?) / 7:30 PM
Iran, 2014 / 101 min. / DIR: Safi Yazdanian / CAST: Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa, Ebrahim Zamir

Leila Hatami stars as Goli, a woman who returns to her hometown after decades living abroad to find a mysterious guide waiting to take her on a journey of self-discovery suffused with romantic melancholy.

Friday, May 8
Farsi, Sepideh - Film 2014 - Red Rose - PosterRED ROSE / 7:30 PM / In person: Sepideh Farsi (DIR)
France/Greece/Iran, 2014 / 87 min. / DIR: Sepideh Farsi / CAST: Mina Kavani, Vassilis Koukalani

Writer-director Sepideh Farsi ingeniously employs a single setting to dramatize the vicissitudes of political idealism in intimate and deeply personal ways amid the explosive passions of the Green Revolution.

Sunday, May 10
Haghani, Payman - Film 2014 - 316 - Poster316 / 7:00 PM
Iran, 2014 / 72 min. / DIR: Payman Haghani / CAST: Sara Vazirzadeh (narrator)

Writer-director Payman Haghani reflects on recent Iranian experience through one woman’s singular passion for shoes with a film as beguiling as it is moving.

Preceded by:
PINK NAIL POLISH / In person: Zhinous Pedram (DIR)
Iran, 2014 / 6 min. / DIR: Zhinous Pedram

Slowly, cautiously, a young girl makes her way out into the world in director Zhinous Pedram’s beautifully shot paean to girlhood.

Friday, May 15
Javidi, Nima - Film 2014 - MelbourneMELBOURNE / 7:30 PM
Iran, 2014 / 91 min. / DIR: Nima Javidi / CAST: Payman Maadi, Negar Javaherian, Mani Haghighi

Writer-director Nima Javidi’s remarkable debut feature is one of the most nerve-wracking, nail-biting, what-would-you-do ethical thrillers in recent memory.

Saturday, May 16
Shahid Saless, Sohrab - Film 1974 - Still life (Tabiate bijan) - PosterSTILL LIFE (Tabiate bijan) / 7:30 PM
Iran, 1974 / 93 min. / DIR: Sohrab Shahid Saless / CAST: Zadour Bonyadi, Mohammed Kani, Hibibollah Safarian

Winner of the Silver Bear at Berlin in 1974, Still Life tells the story of an elderly railroad employee forced into retirement, and confirmed Sohrab Shahid Saless as a “leading visionary of his generation.”

Preceded by:
MOHSEN BADIE: ARTISAN OF CINEMA / In person: Amir Badie
Iran, 2009 / 45 min. / DIR: Aziz Saati / CAST: Naser Malek Motiei, Bahman Farmanara, Houshang Kavoosi

This heartfelt tribute pays homage to Iranian cinema pioneer Mohsen Badie, founder of what film scholar Hamid Naficy described as “perhaps the best film lab in Iran.”

Sources: UCLA Film and Television Archive | UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema, Farhang Foundation

Iranian film “My Name Is Negahdar Jamali And I Make Westerns” by Kamran Heidari

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“My name is John Ford and I make westerns” this is how John Ford introduced himself at the American Film Directors’ Association gathering. Negahdar Jamali, an Iranian from Shiraz introduced himself the same way when I first met him without knowing John Ford that well.

“MY NAME IS NEGAHDAR JAMALI AND I MAKE WESTERNS” he introduced himself with self-confidence and without any weakness in his statement; not in the Monument Valley or in the Grand Canyon but in Shiraz and the deserts surrounding the city. He has been making Western films continuously for the past 35 years under hard conditions, and this film is about the struggle with his family, friends and society to make what he likes the most in his life “Western Movies”.

While “My Name is Negahdar…” might begin as an oddity it soon evolves into a moving tribute to a man who will let nothing separate him from his art. “I almost fell into the trap of making a social documentary but then I realised that with this film cinema is the only thing that matters,” said Heidari.

“It is about a man and his love for cinema and for making cinema. His love for cinema is just so pure. He doesn’t want to make money out of them, he just wants to make these films and he puts everything he has into it,” he said. “It’s inspiring and a lot more honest to just tell his story.”

My Name Is Negahdar Jamali And I Make Westerns (trailer):

Director: Kamran Heidari
Cast: Negahdar Jamali
Movie type: Documentary
Photography: Kamran Heidari
Editor: Bahman Kiarostami
Sound recorder: Sasan Kaveh
Sound mix: Kamyar Behbahani, Farshid Zarmehr
Music selection: Ennio Morricone, Hamid Saeed
Production Manager: Tahereh Alavizadeh
Producer: Mehrdad Monavarian
Color, SD-Video, 16:9, 65 min, 2012, IRAN

Sources: Iranian Film Festival in Germany, The Daily Star Lebanon, My name is Negahdar Jamali and I make westerns (Photos), Kamran Heidari Official Site | Films

Iranian film “Fish & Cat” (Mahi va gorbeh) by Shahram Mokri

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Fish & Cat (from Persian transliterated as Mahi va Gorbeh) is a 2013 mystery drama slasher Iranian film directed by Shahram Mokri. The film was first premiered at the 70th Venice Film Festival in September 2013.

“Selected in 2014 for New Directors/New Films (the annual spring showcase from the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, USA), Fish & Cat heralds the emergence of a fresh and original new voice in Iranian cinema combining formal experimentation with a sly sense of humour.”

Shahram Mokri’s second feature initially seems as if it might be the first Iranian slasher movie, but things are not always as they appear. Filmed in one long, bravura shot by top cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari (A Separation), it plays mind-bending games with time and place while a pair of potential serial killer cannibals stalk a group of camping students at a lake.

“In my short films I was trying to define a new meaning of time, of it being on one plane—very similar to the perspective Escher revealed in his paintings. I attempt to make type of experimental film that shows a new side of what the audience is used to seeing. On the other hand, Fish & Cat was produced due to my interest in slasher and genre films. I wanted to make a movie that would challenge our regular thoughts about time, and also one that used the same old genre structures. For Fish & Cat I took a real-life case and made it my own. It’s also a film that focuses on the Iranian youth generation. Because the film was been shot using just a single one, we rehearsed the film for two months exactly like we would have a theater performance. I decided to prepare with long rehearsals and we ran through the full movie twice a day. The actors do have theatrical backgrounds, so their experience being in front of an audience was helpful throughout.” – Shahram Mokri

Awards
– Special Prize, Venice Horizons Award: 70th Venice Film Festival (2013)
– Best Film Award: Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival 2013
– Muhr Asia Africa Special Jury Prize: Dubai International Film Festival 2013
– FIPRESCI Prize and Youth Jury Award: Fribourg International Film Festival 2014
– Best Film Award (International !f Inspired Competition) and SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics Association) Jury Award: 13th Istanbul Independent Film Festival (2014)

Fish & Cat (Mahi va gorbeh) (trailer):

Director: Shahram Mokri
Cast: Babak Karimi, Saeid Ebrahimifar, Siyavash Cheraghi Pour, Mohammad Berahmani
Producer: Sepher Seifi
Executive Producer: Shahrzad Seifi
Screenwriter: Shahram Mokri
Director of Photography: Mahmoud Kalari
Production Designer: Amir Esbati
Music: Christophe Rezai
Sound: Parviz Abnar
Production Company: Kanoon Iran Novin

Sources: Wikipedia | Fish & Cat, trigon-film.org (Photos), UCLA Happenings | Fish & Cat, The Hollywood Reporter, 13th !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2014 | Fish & Cat, Houston Iranian Film Festival | Fish & Cat

Shahram Mokri: Iranian film director and screenwriter

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Shahram Mokri (Persian: شهرام مکری‎) is an Iranian writer and film director. Born 1977 in Marand, Iran, Shahram Mokri is a graduate of cinema from Tehran’s Soureh College.

Raised in a family of movie lovers, director Shahram Mokri took multiple filmmaking workshops in his native Iran before enrolling in Tehran at the university to study cinema. He started making short films in 2000 and also edited television series and more than 20 short and documentary films.

“I belong to the group of movie lovers who cut out photos of movie stars from magazines,” recalls Mokri. “I’d hang them on my bedroom wall or stick them on my school notebooks. I’ve loved to make movies since I was a child and I’m so happy to still be doing it now.”

His short films brought him national and international recognition along with his debut feature film, Ashkan, The Charmed Ring And Other Stories, which had its international premiere at Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 2009.

Mokri’s second film, Fish & Cat, premiered at the 70th Venice Film Festival and was awarded the Special Orizzonti Award for innovative content. He was nominated for the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Award for Achievement in Directing for Fish & Cat. For his short film The Dragonfly Storm, Mokri won Best Director at the 2007 Noor Iranian Film Festival.

Filmography
– 2000: Electric Shock And Fly (short)
– 2002: Toofan-e Sanjaghak (The Dragonfly Storm) (short)
– 2005: Mahdoodeh-ye Dayereh (Limit of circle) (short)
– 2006: This is the question (documentary)
– 2007: Andosi (Ando-C) (short)
– 2009: Ashkan, angoshtar-e motebarek va dastan-haye digar (Ashkan, the charmed ring and other stories)
– 2011: Kham, pekhth, swkhth (Raw, cooked and burnt) (short)
– 2013: Mahi va Gorbeh (Fish & Cat)

Sources: Wikipedia | Shahram Mokri, Asia Pacific Screen Academy | Shahram Mokri, Houston Iranian Film Festival | Fish & Cat, Film Society Lincoln Center | Meet the (New) Director: Shahram Mokri

Iranian film “Tales” (Ghesseh-ha) by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad

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What will lighten our dark night? An untimely love?!

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s latest film Tales is a collection of stories highlighting the difficulties the lower classes face in today’s society, from unemployed factory workers to poor or drug-addled women or those at risk of domestic violence.

The stories take us all over Tehran, with tales of patriarchal abuse, forced imprisonment and prostitution unfolding in taxis, trains and buses — each marked by fear, but also acts of courage and love.

After three decades of filmmaking the characters of my documentary and feature films are still alive to me and I live with them. “Tales” is returning to the characters of my previous films under today’s circumstances. Even though “Tales” is a complete independent version, but for me and the people who have seen my previous movies, is a review of the people’s fate and social conditions over the past three decades. Rakhshan Banietemad, director

Awards
– Best Screenplay Award: 71st Venice Film Festival (2014)
– Jury Grand Prize: 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2014)

Tales (Ghasseh-ha) (trailer):

Director& Producer: Rakhshan Banietemad
Screenplay: R. Banietemad, Farid Mostafavi
Production Designer: Amir Esbati
Director of Photography: Koohyar Kalari
Sound Recorder: Yadollah Najafi
Sound Mix: Amirhossein Ghassemi
Editor: Sepideh Abdolvahab
Music: Siamak Kalantari
Make-Up Designer: Mehrdad Mirkiani
Production Manager: Nava Rohani
Executive Producer: Kanoon Iran Novin
Cast: Golab Adineh, Saber Abar, Farhad Aslani, Foojan Arefpoor, Bahareh Daneshgar, Mohammadreza Forootan, Shahrokh Forootanian, Babak Hamidian, Mehdi Hashemi, Negar Javaherian, Baran Kosari, Fatemeh Motamedaria, Peiman Moadi, Hassan Majooni, Habib Rezaei, Atefeh Razavi, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Khosro Shahraz, Rima Raminfar
Color, D-Cinema, 16:9, 88 min, 2014, Iran

Sources: Noori Pictures | Feature | “Tales” (Ghesseha), Aquila Style

Winners of 2015 Farhang Short Film Festival in Los Angeles, California

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Maryam Farahzadi’s The Role of Each Fret (Iran) was this year’s winning short film and awarded the top prize of $10,000. Commotion (Osyan) (Canada) by KAJART was the runner up and recipient of the $5,000 award. Rounding out the top three was Ali Azimi’s & Arash Ashtiani’s Prelude (Pishdaramad) (UK), which nabbed the $3,000 award.

Film poster of “The role of each fret” by Farahzadi, Maryam – 1st Prize
Film poster of “Commotion” (Osyan) by Kajart – 2nd Prize
Film poster of “Prelude” (Pishdaramad) by Ali Azimi & Arash Ashtiani – 3rd Prize

Nearly 100 short film were submitted this year, representing a diverse range of genres and styles and hailing from Canada, Germany, Iran, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“We could not be more pleased with the results of this year’s film festival,” said Mark Amin, Farhang Foundation board member and Film Festival Committee chair. “The top three submissions came to us from various corners of the world, each demonstrating a unique talent for expressing a very keen understanding of Iranian culture. We congratulate the winning filmmakers and thank our panel of jurors for their dedicated service.”

The 2015 festival jury included Hassan Ildari, an assistant professor at Emerson College; Beejan Land, an actor and award winning playwright; Shaeda Moghaddam, President of Triangle Road Entertainment; Shaun Toub, a veteran actor appearing in hit films including Bad Boys, Iron Man, and the Oscar-winning film Crash; and Mark Amin, Chairman and CEO of Sobini Films and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Farhang Foundation.

Since inception in 2009, the Farhang Short Film Festival has called on filmmakers from all backgrounds and walks of life to submit short films that explore, capture, or celebrate some aspect of Iranian culture.

Maryam FarahzadiMaryam Farahzadi
Born in 1990, Maryam holds a BFA in graphic design from Faculty of Fine Arts (University of Tehran). She has been working as an animator and character designer in “Pouya Negar” animation studio for 5 years and has taken part in different animation projects for Iranian national TV in addition to some personal projects.

The role of each fret by Maryam Farahzadi (1st prize):

 

KajartKAJART
Kajart is a creative production studio based in Toronto, Canada. Formed by four friends (Hajar Moradi, Kajeh Mehrizi, Taravat Khalili, Vahid Fazel) whom share a similar taste of arts. One of our prominent works besides art & design is to make animation films. We love and enjoy giving life to objects and materials, and we always look for a new challenge in technique, concept and style.

Commotion (Osyan) by Kajart (2nd prize):

 

Ashtiani, ArashArash Ashtiani
Born on August 1983 in Tehran, Iran. He attended script writing classes of Nasser Taghvaei, an acclaimed Iranian film director/writer, followed later by participating in a workshop given by Abbass Kiarostami and made his first short film during that time. He later moved to London to study Filmmaking at London Film School. “Only sound Remains” his graduation film was nominated for a BAFTA award along number of other nominations. He has made short films, documentaries and music videos since his graduation and is currently writing his first feature script.

Azimi, AliAli Azimi
Leader of the band “Ali Azimi and the Needs”. An Iranian rock and alternative band with all British musicians. He also was the singer-songwriter of the band Radio Tehran which became noticed after their first album 88, released in the Persian year 1388. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran. Ali Azimi began his interest in music at a young age. Coming from a musical family, he self learned to play the Piano and studied classical guitar with Kazem Moazen. Ali got his bachelors in engineering at Tehran University and Masters in United Kingdom in the same field.

Prelude (Pishdaramad) by Ali Azimi & Arash Ashtiani (3rd prize):

About Farhang Foundation
Farhang Foundation is a non-religious, non-political and not-for-profit foundation established in 2008 to celebrate and promote Iranian art and culture for the benefit of the community at large. The foundation supports a broad range of academic activities in Southern California by funding university programs, publications and conferences. The foundation also supports diverse cultural programs such as the celebration of Nowruz and Mehregan, theater, dance performances, film screenings and poetry reading in Southern California. And, in cooperation with various cultural and academic institutions, Farhang Foundation funds major programs and exhibitions about Iran and its culture.

Source: Farhang Foundation

Awarded film “13” by Iranian director Hooman Seyedi will be screened on Tiburon International Film Festival in California, USA

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Struggling to deal with his parent’s divorce and constant abuse at school, thirteen-year-old Behmani lashes out. He finds solace in a group of older street kids. They treat him as an adult and as one of their own. He soon gets in over his head when he becomes entangled in their own complex lives. Not truly understanding the consequences of his involvement within the group and their affiliates, Behmani finds himself stuck amid a murder. The film is a burst of youthful rage and an indictment of modern adolescence.

13 (Sizdah) / Dir: Hooman Seyedi / 2014 / Iran / Drama / 90 min
Cast: Amir Jafari, Azadeh Samdi, Rima Raminfar, Amir Jadidi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Vishka Asayesh, Yasna Mirtahmasb

Venue: Tiburon Playhouse Theater, 40 Main Street
Showtime: Saturday, April 11, 2015 @ 08:30 PM

Awards
– 2014 Busan International Film Festival: New Currents Award
– 2014 Warsaw International Film Festival: NETPAC Award

About director Hooman Seyyedi
Born in 1980 in Rasht, Hooman Seyedi holds diploma in Graphics. He has made few short films and tele-movies. 13 is his debut feature film.

Sources: Payvand News of Iran, Tiburon Film Festival

The directors of Iran’s most popular movies of the year are all women

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“The City of Mice 2”, “Ceasefire 2”, and “Track 143”, three movies produced by Iranian women directors, were on top of the list of Iran’s most popular films of the year. The list was announced during a ceremony held by the Cinema Organization of Iran at Tehran’s Eivan-e Shams Hall on Monday to honor the directors of the movies.

Marzieh Boroumand’s “The City of Mice 2”, a puppet show movie in the children genre, stands high on the top of the chart. A sequel to her 1984 hit “The City of Mice”, the movie was warmly received by children, it also drew a large number of adult cinemagoers as well.

“Ceasefire 2” by Tahmineh Milani was the second movie on the list. “Ceasefire 2” is about the encounter of a young educated couple with their former family counselor after some years, during which the couple reviews their lives and some of the dramatic events that happened over the past years.

Narges Abyar’s acclaimed drama “Track 143” took the third place. The film, which was widely acclaimed at the 32nd Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran earlier in February 2013, is about the great maternal sacrifice during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

About Tahmineh Milani
Please check out this article

About Marzieh Boroumand
Marzieh Boroumand is an Iranian actress, puppeteer, screenwriter and director of TV series and films. She is best known for Alo!Alo! Man joojoo-am (1994), Barbershop Ziba (1989) and City of Mice (1985). She began her career in cinema by playing in The Cycle directed by Dariush Mehrjui.

About Narges Abyar
Born in Tehran. Narges Abyar studied in Persian Literature and received her B.A. in this field. So far she has devoted most of her time to writing, which had led to the publication of 30 story and fiction books for children, young adults and also the adults. She has made several short and feature-length documentaries: -Kind Dead-End (fiction-15min-2006), – One day after the 10th day(documentary-25min-2007)

All posts related to Iranian women on this blog: The other Iran | Women

Sources: IMDb | Narges Abyar, Wikipedia | Marzieh Boroumand, Payvand News of Iran

Taraneh Alidoosti: Awarded Iranian actress, blogger and writer

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Taraneh Alidoosti is a Crystal-Simorgh winning Iranian actress. In a poll conducted among 130 film critics by Sanate Cinema magazine, she was voted the best Iranian actress of the decade. In 2012, a similar poll by the Film Monthly also chose her as the best actress of the decade.

Her father, Hamid Alidoosti, is a former member of the Iranian national football team and currently a football coach in Iran.

Career as actress
She began her acting career at age 17 with the leading role in Man, Taraneh, panzdah sal daram (I Am Tarane, Fifteen Years Old), (Rasul Sadr Ameli, 2002). Critics praised her performance as a defiant 15 year old girl who after a failed relationship is determined to rear a child on her own, while struggling with poverty and social stigma. She won the Bronze Leopard for Best Actress from Locarno International Film Festival in 2002, as well as the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress from the 20th Fajr Film Festival, becoming the youngest ever to do so. Shortly after she set another record, getting nominated three consecutive times for the best actress prize at the Fajr Film Festival for her first three films. Since then she has maintained a steady but selective work flow in both theatre and cinema. She is mostly known for her choosy criteria in accepting challenging, dramatic roles, as exemplified by her long collaboration with Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, making her one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation.

Blogging/Writing
In addition to her acting career she is also known for her writing as featured in her personal weblog . Additionally, her short stories and commentary pieces have been widely published in magazines and daily newspapers such as Shargh. In 2010, a piece written in support of director Asghar Farhadi, defending his comments in support of dissident Iranian artists, caused her weblog to be closed by government officials. Her new weblog however is active now. A collection of stories by Canadian author Alice Munro collected and translated by Taraneh Alidoosti, was published in 2011. It received the prize for best fiction translation at annual Book of Season Awards. She is fluent in English and German.

Awards
Bronze Leopard for Best Actress from Locarno International Film Festival in 2002
Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress from the 20th Fajr Film Festival (youngest actress to win the prize with 17 years)
Best fiction translation at annual Book of Season Awards

Filmography
2002: Man Taraneh, Panzdah Sal Daram (I Am Taraneh, Fifteen Years Old)
2004: Shahre Ziba (Beautiful City)
2006: Fireworks Wednesday
2008: Canaan
2008: Shirin
2008: Tardid (Doubt)
2009: Darbareh Elly (About Elly)
2010: Whatever God Wants
2011: Life With Closed Eyes
2011: At the End of 8th Street
2012: Modest Reception
2013: The Shallow Yellow Sky
2014: The Life Wedlock Mr Mahmoudi & Banoo

Sources: wikipedia | Taraneh Alidoosti, Bing Image Search

Iranian director Teimour Ghaderi: short film “It Hits Upon The Roof” shines in CourToujours Festival in Geneve, Switzerland

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Teimour Ghaderi’s ‘It Hits upon the Roof’ has won the special award of Switzerland’s courtoujours short film festival.

Iranian short film 'Rainfall of Roof'

The short film It Hits upon the Roof competed with representatives from Russia, France, Tajikistan, Belgium, Portugal, Egypt, Mexico, and Switzerland and managed to scoop the jury’s special award and a cash prize of 1,500 francs.

Produced by the Art Forum of Kurdistan province, Ghaderi’s narrative short movie depicts the life of a young boy who tries not to let his mother wake up by gathering the raindrops falling of their dripping ceiling into his hands.

It Hits upon the Roof has been screened in several international film festivals so far such as 2014 Lucania Film Festival in Italy, Lahore Short Film Festival 2013 Celebrating Iranian Heritage, and the third MiCe Film Festival in Valencia, Spain.

Synopsis
A house in a village, where only an old woman and a child live, the rain falls and starts dripping from the ceiling. The child tries to do something about the drips.

teimourAbout Teimour Ghaderi
Teimour Ghaderi, born 1992, graduated in screen writing and photography. He has written the short stories: The Address I’m lost and Summer Cold. Has directed three short films: Pomegranate is the Fruit of Paradise, Picking the down and It Hit Upon the Roof. Winner of 18 national and international awards (Canada, South Korea, Czech Republic and Turkey) for the films Pomegranate is the Fruit of Paradise and Picking the Down.

CourToujours Festival
The international short-film festival of Geneva, CourToujours, is a platform, giving young film directors or confirmed talents the opportunity to present their short-films to a diverse audience. The 11th edition of CourToujours took place in the Swiss city of Geneva from the 19th to 21st February 2015 at Maison des Arts du Grütli.

PS: Finding info about Teimour Ghaderi, like with many young Iranian artists, is not easy. An Iranian name can be written in many ways with latin letters. Some combinations I had to try to find this info were:
Teymour Qaderi, Teymur Qaderi, Teymour Ghaderi, …

Sources: IRAN FRONT PAGE, MEHR, Iranian Film Festival, viddsee.com

Photo gallery: Fajr Film Festival in Iran

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The Fajr International Film Festival or Fajr Film Festival is Iran’s annual film festival, held every February in Tehran, Iran. It takes place every year on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution. There were 90 feature films submitted for the 29th edition of the festival in 2011.

Sources: Wikipedia| Fajr International Film Festival, Tasnim News | Photos FIFF 1, Tasnim News | Photos FIFF 2, Tasnim News | Photos FIFF 3, ISNA | FIFF 1, ISNA | FIFF 2, ISNA | FIFF 3, ISNA | FIFF 4, ISNA | FIFF 5

Baran Kosari: Awarded Iranian actress

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Baran Kosari, born on October 17th 1985 in Tehran, is an award winning Iranian actress. She is the daughter of director Rakhshan Bani Etemad, and film producer Jahangir Kosari.

She graduated from Soureh academy. The Best Papa of the World (1991) is her first acting experiment. She had appearances in some of her mother’s films, Nargess (1991), Rusari-ye Abi (The Blue-Veiled, 1994), May Lady (1997), Kish Stories (Rain and Ladsman episode – 1998), Under the Skin of the City (2000), Our Times (documentary, 2001).

In 2007 she was nominated for the best performance by an actress in Asia Pacific Screen Award for her performance in Mainline. Baran Kosari also ascertained her abilities as a theater actress with playing in Over the Mirror (1997), with Azita Hajian directing.

Awards
Best Actress / 33rd Fajr International Film Festival / The Nameless Alley (2015)
Best Actress / 1st National Young Iranian Film Festival / Ablah (2010)
Best Actress / 11th Iran Cinema Celebration / Khunbazi (2007)
Best Actress / 25th Fajr International Film Festival / Iran Competition / Khoon Bazi and Ruz-e sevvom (2007)
Honorary Diploma / 25th International Fajr Film Festival / Khoon Bazi (2007)
Best Teenage Actress / Critic’s Choice / Baran-o-Bumi, Zir-e puste shahr (2000)

Other activities
Screenwriter (Ablah – 2007)
Secretary of Scene (Gilaneh – 2004)
Festival Arbiter, 17th Teenage Film Festival (Isfahan – 2002)

Source: Wikipedia | Baran Kosari

Bahram Beyzaie: Iranian film director, playwright and researcher

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Bahram BeyzaieBahram Beyzaie was born in Tehran, Iran on Dec 26 1938. He is an Iranian film director, theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, film editor, producer, and researcher.

Beyzaie is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and includes other pioneering directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Forough Farrokhzad, Sohrab Shahid Sales, and Parviz Kimiavi. The filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialog, references to traditional Persian art and culture and allegorical story-telling often dealing with political and philosophical issues.

After beginning Persian literature at Tehran University, Bahram Beyzaie turned to Visual Arts. Here he studied the Book of Kings (Shahname), the Shiite passion plays (Ta’zieh) , the traditional Persian Theatre including the puppet theatre, the pre-Islamic culture and Persian miniature painting. All of this combined with his interest in the far Eastern theatre helped him to develop of a new direction for the Iranian theatre.

Beyzaie’s “Drama in Iran” (Namayesh dar Iran), published in late 1960s is still considered the most important text on the history of Iranian theater. Beyzaie is also the first scholar in Iran to publish books on theater in China and Japan. Some of his plays such as his masterpiece “Marg-e Yazdgerd” (“Death of Yazdgerd”) have been made into films.

In 1964 he published the first of three pieces “Seh Namāyesch-e Arusak” (Three Puppet Plays), where the influence of Pirandello and the Theatre of the Absurd is reflected.

In 1969 he began his film career by directing the short film Amu Sibilou (Uncle Moustache) followed by Safar (The Journey) in 1970. Immediately after, in 1971, he made his first feature film “Ragbar” (“Downpour”) which is regarded by critics to this day as one of the most successful Iranian films ever made. The successful film addresses the late Parviz Fannizadeh as its central character and protagonist. Since then he produced and directed a number of films, including “Bashu, the little Stranger”.

He is known as the most intellectual and conspicuous “author” in Iranian cinema. The main theme of his works is the history and “crisis of identity” which is related to Iranian cultural and mythical symbols and paradigms.

Beyzaie lives and works in Iran, but is spending an academic year at Stanford University as the Bita Daryabari Visiting Professor of Persian Studies.

Selection of works and publications:
– numerous articles on literary and art magazines,
– Theatre in Japan
– Gorob dar Diari Garib (Sunset in a strange Land)
– Chahar Sandoogh (Four Chests)
– Hashtomin Safar-e Sandbad (Sinbad’s Eighth Voyage)
– Ziafat va Miras (1967 – aka Heritage and The Feast)
– Soltan-Mar (1969 – aka The King Snake)
– Dolls
– Story of the hidden Moon
– Seh Namayesh-e Arusak (Three Puppet Plays)
– Marg-e Yazdgerd (1979 – aka Death of Yazdgerd)
– Karname-ye Bandar Bidakhsh (1997 and 1998)
– Banu Aoi (1997 and 1998) (based on The Lady Aoi by Yukio Mishima)
– Shab-e Hezar-o-yekom (2003)
– Afra ya Rooz migozarad (2007 – aka Afra, or the day passes)

Filmography (as a director):
– 1969: Amu Sibilu (short – aka Uncle Moustache)
– 1970: Safar (short – aka The Journey)
– 1971: Ragbār (aka Downpour)
– 1974: Qaribé va Meh (aka The Stranger and the Fog)
– 1976: Kalāq (aka The Crow or The Raven )
– 1979: Charike-ye Tārā (aka Ballad of Tara)
– 1982: Marg-e Yazdgerd (aka Death of Yazdgerd)
– 1986: Bashu, Gharibe-ye Koochak (aka Bashu, the Little Stranger – released 1989)
– 1988: Shayad Vaghti digar (aka Maybe Some Other Time)
– 1992: Mosaferan (aka Travellers)
– 1998: Goft-o-gu ba Bad (short – aka Talking with the Wind)
– 2001: Sagkoshi (aka Killing Mad Dogs)
– 2006: Qāli-ye Sokhangū (The narrative rug)
– 2009: Vaqti hame khābim (When we are all sleeping)

Awards
– 1973: Chicago International Film Festival, Moscow International Film Festival: “The Journey”: Silver Hugo, Silver Award
– 1990: Aubervilliers Film Festival: “Bashu, the little stranger” – Best film
– 2001: 19th International Fajr Film Festival: “Killing Mad Dogs” – Screenplay
– 2004: International Istanbul Film Festival: Award for lifetime achievement

Sources:
Wikipedia (English and German)
Stanford University – Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages

Iranian Director Amin Rahbar receives the “Climate Clips Award” at the 2014 International Film School Fest Munich

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Rahbar, Amin - Iranian Film Director, Azad University of Central Tehran - Scale (Tarazoo)Amin Rahbar’s animation Scale scooped the prestigious Climate Clips Award at the 2014 International Festival of Munich Film Schools, running from November 16-22 in Germany. […]

“Some 42 films from 22 countries took part in this festival, and my production with an environmental theme was selected among the top three and ultimately managed to win the best film award” said Amin Rahbar to Mehr News.

“Scale is 2-minute long and produced with cutout animation technique. In this technique, flat characters and backgrounds are cut from materials such as paper, or if on a computer, with scanned images” explained Rahbar.

Climate-Clips-Jury (Brigitte Bruns, Veronika Nagelschneider and Beatrice Scola): Amin Rahbar’s enchanting animated film SCALE (in Farsi TARAZOO), shows us the dramatic changes industrialization has wrought upon our planet. Our transformation from an agricultural society to today’s skyscraper-studded megacities is brought to life by the sophisticated and original use of an old and relatively simple technique: paper cutouts. In just one and a half minutes, the clip illustrates how drastically our environment has changed, the severe damage that has been done to it and the current consequences such as climate change. The jury congratulates Amin Rahbar on the successful artistic and technical realization of his film.

Winner: Scale | Tarazoo
The story of human life from the beginning to the beginning…
by Amin Rahbar from Azad University of Central Tehran, Iran

Scale has been previously featured and awarded in other international festivals including Hamburg Festival in Germany, con i minuti contati Festival in Italy, and SHNIT Festival in Switzerland. It has also won the Best Film Award at Iran’s Short Film Festival for Children.

The International Festival of Film Schools established in 1981 is now one of the most important festivals for young filmmakers in the world. About 60 films are presented at the festival annually, and each year approximately 100 foreign students and professors have the opportunity to meet, enter into discussions and share their experiences with each other.

Sources: Film School Fest Munich, Mehr News Agency

Iranian actor Peyman Moaadi – lead male role in Oscar-winning “A Separation” now male lead in US production Camp X-Ray

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The lead male role in Oscar-winning A Separation, Peyman Moaadi, has made male lead again, this time in a US-produced movie, titled Camp X-Ray.

The movie has been credited for moving performances by both of the stars.

Peter Sattler’s directorial debut, Camp X-Ray premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is due for US screening on October 17.

Moaadi started his acting career in director Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly (2009). Two years later, he received the Silver Bear award for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival for his leading role in Farhadi’s A Separation. The latter flick saw him doing justice to the character of a father in a family faced with a difficult decision – to move to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent.

Source: Iran Review

Iranian director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad wins Best Screenplay Award at Venice Film Festival

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Bani-Etemad received the Best Screenplay award for her film Tales during the awards ceremony on the closing day of the festival on September 6, 2014 at Venice Lido.

Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad receiving her award at the Venice Film Festival

Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad receiving her award at the Venice Film Festival

Tales is composed of seven short episodes, in which Bani-Etemad reveals the fate of some of the main characters in her previous films like The Blue-Veiled, Under the Skin of the City and Mainline. […]

Best-known for addressing social problems in her films, Bani-Etemad has directed numerous feature-length and short films as well as documentaries, which have garnered many international and national awards.

“The characters in my films are real, [from among] the people whom I might meet every day,” she had earlier stated. […]

Another Iranian film maker Nima Javidi’s debut feature-length film Melbourne received critical acclaim at the festival. The film opened Critics’ Week section of the event.

French film composer Alexandre Desplat was the head of the international jury at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The 71st annual Venice Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from August 27 to September 6, 2014.

Source: Payvand News of Iran

Ali Mosaffa: Awarded Iranian actor and director

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Ali Mosaffa (born December 1, 1966 in Tehran) is an Iranian actor and director. His parents are professors for Persian literature at the University of Tehran. His father, Mozaher Mosaffa, is a renowned Persian poet and his mother, Amir Banoo Karimi is the eldest daughter of the Persian poet, Amiri Firuzkuhi.

He is a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran where he showed an interest in acting. His acting film debut was 1991 in Omid. In the following year he won the Best Actor Award at the 10th Fajr International Film Festival for his role in Darius Mehrjui’s film, Pari. On the set of Leila, Mehrjui’s 1996 film, met Mosaffa his future wife, Iranian actress Leila Hatami.

He directed his first short film, Incubus, in 1991. Neighbors (Hamsaye-ha) in 1999 was chosen Best Experimental Film at the Iranian Short Film Fest. His first feature film, Portrait of a lady far away (Sima-ye zani dar doordast) starring Leila Hatami and Homayoun Ershadi, in 2005. The film was shortlisted for the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival.

Portrait of a lady far away subsequently won the People’s Choice Award at the Chicago International Film Festival and was nominated for the Crystal Globe at the 2005 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2012 was the international premiere of his second film, The last step (Pele-ye akhar) starring Leila Hatami, at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where Leila Hatami received the Best Actress Award and Ali Mosaffa the FIPRESCI Prize.

In October 2012, Mosaffa joined Oscar winning director of A Separation, Asghar Farhadi in Paris; starring alongside Bérénice Bejo and Tahar Rahim for Farhadi’s first foreign language film The Past (Le Passé) which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013.

Filmography (as an actor)
– 2014: What’s the time in your world? (Dar donya-ye to saát chand ast?) by Safi Yazdanian
– 2013: The past (Le passé) by Asghar Farhadi
– 2012: The last step (Pele-ye akhar) by Ali Mosaffa
– 2011: Beloved sky (Aseman-e mahboob) by Dariush Mehrjui
– 2010: There are things you don’t know (Chizhaie hast ke nemidani) by Fardin Saheb-Zamani
– 2006: Who killed Amir? (Che kasi Amir ra kosh?) by Mehdi Karampoor
– 2003: Another place (Jayi digar) by Mehdi Karampoor
– 2001: Mix by Dariush Mehrjui
– 2000: Dear Cousin is Lost (Segment in Tales of an Island by Dariush Mehrjui)
– 2000: Party by Saman Moghadam
– 1999: Lost Girls
– 1998: Leila by Dariush Mehrjui
– 1996: Minou Tower (Borje Minou) by Ebrahim Hatamikia
– 1994: Pari by Dariush Mehrjui
– 1992: All My Daughters by Esmail Soltanian
– 1991: Omid by Habib Kavosh

Filmography (as a director)
– 2012: The last step (Pele-ye akhar)
– 2005: Portrait of a lady far away (Sima-ye zani dar doordast)
– 1996: The deceit of poesy (Farib-e-she’r), a documentary short film
– 1999: Neighbors (Hamsaye-ha), short film
– 1991: Incubus, short film

Television Series
– 2000: The English Bag (Keef-e Eenglisi)
– 2007: Paridokht

Awards
– Best Supporting Actor Award at the 13th Fajr International Film Festival for Pari in 1995
– People’s Choice Award for “Portrait of a Lady Far Away”, from Chicago International Film Festival, 2005
– Crystal Simorgh (Phoenix) for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 30th Fajr International Film Festival in 2012 for The last step (Pele-ye akhar)
– FIPRESCI at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for The last step (Pele-ye akhar) in 2012
– Best Adapted Screenplay at the 16th Iranian House of Cinema Film Festival for The last step (Pele-ye akhar) in 2014

Sources: Wikipedia | Ali Mosaffa, Festival Scope | Ali Mosaffa

Hana Makhmalbaf – Iran’s world famous female filmmaker

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Hana Makhmalbaf

Hana Makhmalbaf


Hana Makhmalbaf (Persian: حنا مخملباف ‎) (born September 3, 1988 (age 25) in Tehran) is an Iranian filmmaker. She is the younger sister of filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf and daughter of filmmakers Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Marzieh Makhmalbaf.
Career

Her first short film was shown at the Locarno Film Festival in Ticino, Switzerland when she was eight years old. Her first full film was in 2003 and entitled Joy of Madness. The film is a documentary about the making of Samira’s At Five in the Afternoon.
…
Her first feature film, Buddha Collapsed out of Shame won an award at Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal, Canada in 2007, as well as two awards from San Sebastian International Film Festival, Spain, and the Crystal Bear for the Best Feature Film by the Generation Kplus Children’s Jury at the Berlinale Film Festival 2008.

Her second feature, Green Days premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival. Begun as a documentary about the run-up to the 2009 Presidential Election in Iran, it was completed by inter-cutting scenes of the post-election violence garnered from cell-phone and other amateur videos circulating anonymously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_Makhmalbaf

“A Separation”, first Iranian movie to win the Oscar academy award

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A Separation (Persian: Jodái-e Náder az Simin, “The Separation of Nader from Simin”) is a 2011 Iranian drama film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi.

Farhadi focuses on a middle class family in Tehran to explore the tensions and challenges of modern Iran. By examining class, religious and gender conflict through the intimate lens of family life, he highlights the interconnection between the personal and political. The lecture identifies and analyses the multiple pressure points within the film narrative and the central idea that the very things that connect us as human beings also separate us.

A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, becoming the first Iranian film to win the award. It received the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress and Best Actor at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award, making it the first non-English film in five years to achieve this.

Nader and Simin: A Separation (trailer):

Asghar Farhadi, 123 mins, Iran, 2011

Source: Wikipedia | A Separation, Australian Centre for the Moving Image | A Separation

Photos: 26th International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults in Isfahan

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Filmmakers from 40 countries have participated in the festival and 200 movies are scheduled to go on screen at Farshchian, Qods, Sahel, Sepahan, Honar and several other theaters in Isfahan during the event.

A jury composed of 60 children helped the main jury for the national competition section.

The photos can be viewed here:
http://www.payvand.com/news/12/oct/1090.html