Iranian film series

[evenwolf]

Lately many bad Iranians have been highlighted in the U.S. national news.   It's time that other Iranians such as filmmakers get some airtime too.    I want to host a film series where I live.  Tennessee is a "red state" which is to say that Christianity and conservatism are the only lifestyles not frowned upon.   Hosting an Iranian film series may be dangerous for me personally, but will be advantageous for my country.

So my question is:   Does anyone know of any really good Iranian films?

Read further if you want to know why.   But do not confuse the political message with the subject of Iranian films.    OK.   A new york times article was published which suggested that the white house is considering air strikes or a possible nuclear attack on Iran.  Joe Lieberman is advocating this attack.    Lieberman proposes that bombing Iran will humble them in a way that will be advantageous to the current war in Iraq.   This worries me.  I do not personally know anything about Iran.   But I know launching another "preemptive strike" will paint the United States as the definitive enemy of the world.  I do have a friend who is "persian" that was born in Iran and I like her very much.   I would not like to see her family or anyone she ever knew to be blown up.

My mom emailed her college professor from MIT, Noam Chomsky, and asked him for advice.   Chomsky advises that only wide public protest will do the trick.    The kind of protest we saw in Viet Nam.   Chomsky is a genious, the #1 linguist in the world & a follower of politics, as well as critic.    I trust what he says.

Doing my part:   I want to raise awareness.   I want U.S. citizens to think of the families and lifestyles they will be ignoring if the government bombs Iran.    So I decided with my background that an Iranian film series would be best.   I only thought of it last night, it is still just a possibility.   But obviously the better the programming, the more likely I can find sponsorship.    So, ask around.   What are the best Iranian films?

[Becky]

I personally don't know of any, but here might be a good place to start looking? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_films#International_recognition_of_Iranian_cinema
In any case I wish you the best of luck with this!

[Ghost]

IMDb (The Internet Movie Database) allows rather detailed match searching, should be worth a visit?
I distinctively remember an Iranian movie I saw on VOX (the best excuse of a culture channel we have here in germany  ), it was something like, er, "Verlorenes Glück" (Lost Luck), and it was a pretty well-made low budget production in experimental black and white. I'll try to find the original title for you.

[Miez]

But I know launching another "preemptive strike" will paint the United States as the definitive enemy of the world.

Not to mention a preemptive NUCLEAR strike.  </off topic>

I was about to mention IMBD. Great initiative, Evenwolf. Good luck in organising this event ... I'm pretty sure there's some great Iranian cinema out there. How about googling for English language Iranian movie forums? (they should exist, right?).

*EDIT* maybe these help:
some forum post
some other forum post

[Neil Dnuma]

Since the 80's, two filmmakers have dominated Iranian film, Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, both excellent. I'm a big fan of Kiarostami, you have to see Taste of Cherry (which won the golden palm at Cannes), Close-Up, Ten, Through the Olive Trees. Makhmalbaf's The Silence is very good, Kandahar and The Cyclist also. His daughter, Samira, has also made some good films, perhaps At Five in the Afternoon being the most famous... I prefer Blackboards though. Other well known Iranian filmmakers include Majid Majidi, Baran and The Color of Paradise are safe bets. These are the ones I'm most famliliar with.

These films are most often low budget, minimalistic, quiet, enigmatic. The strict regime rules have forced Iranian artists into a more subtle, symbolic language, which actually has made Iranian films unique and brought international attention.

[Snarky]

Iranian film is fairly well exposed in international cinema, and regularly screened at film festivals and art houses in the US. Consequently, you can find plenty of reviews online. For example Salon reviews films from Iran quite frequently. Have a look at this, this, this, this and this.

Persepolis may be a French film, but it's an autobiographical story about growing up in Iran, so should still be quite relevant. It won an award at Cannes earlier this year.

Incidentally, although Chomsky has made major contributions to linguistics, I would take his political advice with a large pinch of salt. His beliefs are pretty extreme. A film festival sounds far more realistic than staging Vietnam-scale protests. To be honest, I think that after the debacle in Iraq the chances of the US attacking Iran are pretty slim. There just isn't any appetite for another war. Still, I wish you luck with a very commendable and hopefully enjoyable project.

Edit: There's a very thorough Wikipedia article on the cinema of Iran. It should give you plenty of material to start from.

[evenwolf]

Thanks for all the links and the suggestions!   


ghost & miez:  I use imdb's search feature rather religiously!    I was more curious if someone had come across a striking Iranian film in their own personal experience.    A personal recommendation from an AGS'er would be highly valued.   I'll write down Lost Luck and see if I can come up with anything.

Becky:  thanks for the wikipedia link!   It appears there are too many to choose from!   I tried to print the page & it was more like 22 pages!   good lord, that's promising.

Neil:  I will thoroughly research these filmmakers' collections and see if I can pick a couple movies from each of them to order on DVD.  Thanks for the tip.

Snarky:  Persepolis is the first film I was able to google.   The film is in french but I do believe it was made by someone who grew up in Iran.  It looks like sony pictures is releasing it too.   on Chomksy:   he's certainly leftist & protest does sound extreme I admit.   But as americans protest is the most peaceful, most powerful thing one can do.    I would be careful not to stereotype protestors as troublemakers.  I highly value my right to protest.

[Ali]

I'm sorry I can't suggest an Iranian film, but I wanted to say what a good idea I think this is. I hope it's successful.