Persian Cinema

1
Persian Cinema

• Valerie Saporito
• November 30th, 2007

2
Fade in to Scene 1.The Beginning

• First Persian filmmaker was Mirza Ebrahim Khan
  Akkas Bashi
• First movie theater was built in Tehran in 1904
• First film school, Parvareshgahe Artistiye Cinema
  (The Cinema Artist Educational Centre), was
  established in 1925 by Ovanes Ohanian
• First film with sound (Lor Girl) was produced in
  1932
• National Iranian Film society is established in
  1949

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Cut to Scene 2. (The 1960s)Pre-revolutionary
Cinema

• 25 commercial films produced annually during this
  time
• Focused on melodramas and thrillers
• Ganj-e-Qarun (Croesus Treasure), 1965, began a
  new genre in Iran the tragic action drama

4
Angle onPost-revolutionary Cinema

• Filmmakers begin to enter their work into
  international festivals
• Abbas Kiarostami puts Iran on the map by winning
  the Palm dOr at the Cannes Film Festival for
  Taste of Cherry (1997)
• In 1998, Iranian government funded filmmakers
  producing ethnic films

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Establishing shotContemporary Iranian Film

• Commercial cinema
• New Wave films
• Womens cinema

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Cont.Commercial Cinema

• Separated into TWO CATEGORIES
• Films about the victory of the Iranian Revolution
  of 1979, filled with strong religious and
  national motifs.
• Formulaic films starring popular actors
• Crowd-pleasing comedies
• Romantic melodramas
• Family comedies

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Cont.New Wave Films

• Innovative art films with highly political and
  philosophical tones and poetic language
• Took flight with the films of Kiarostami
• Emerged due to intellectual and political
  movements of the time
• A few names in Iranian New Wave
• Jafar Panahi
• Majid Majidi
• Babak Payami

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Cont.Womens Cinema

• Following the New Wave movement, many women
  emerged as talented Iranian filmmakers
• Most notable woman Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
• Made films and documentaries about social
  pathology
• Also, Samira Makhmalbaf
• Directed her first film, The Apple, at the age of
  17
• Won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2000 for The
  Blackboard
• In 2006, Marjane Satrapi received a position on
  the Cannes Film Festival jury.

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Begin titles.Festival Wins and Nominations

• CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (France)
• 2007 Grand Prize of the Jury Marjane Satrapi
• 2004 Golden Camera Mohsen Amiryoussefi
• 2003 Jury prize Samira Makhmalbaf
• 1997 Golden Palm Abbas Kiarostami
• ACADEMY AWARDS
• 2007 Best Sound Editing (win) for Apocolypto
  Kami Asgar
• 2004 Best Supporting Actress (nom) for House of
  Sand and Fog Shorheh Aghdashloo
• 1999 Best Foreign Film (nom) for Children of
  Heaven Majid Majidi

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End titles.Censorship

• Although Persian films are flourishing,
  filmmakers have always operated under severe
  censorship laws
• Some Iranian films which are critically acclaimed
  in other countries are banned in Iran
• Actors can no show affection toward each other
• Women must wear covering, even when portrayed at
  home
• Films depicting stories that are against the
  regime are banned
• Filmmakers can get around these censors by
• Getting exports to enter international festivals
• Self-censorship, or the filmmakers choice to
  avoid controversial topics