20th Annual Festival of Films from Iran
The Gene Siskel Film Center welcomes you to the 20th anniversary celebration of our Festival of Films from Iran, October 3 through November 1, with a very special additional program on November 21. In this year in which Iran remains very much in the headlines, we look forward with film premieres and also take a look back at earlier films and the work of major artists.
It’s been two decades since Mehrnaz Saeedvafa of Columbia College Chicago approached the Film Center with the idea of a showcase for Iranian cinema, which at that time was just barely in evidence anywhere outside of Iran. Our first event grew into an annual festival with the help of many in Chicago’s Iranian American community, especially the individuals thanked below, as well as the critical support of discerning film critics including the Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum. Over two decades we have seen the Iranian cinema grow into an artistic powerhouse honored with awards worldwide. Iranian directors including Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jafar Panahi, and Majid Majidi are acclaimed as contemporary masters.
We open this festival with SUPERSTAR, the entertaining new film by Tahmineh Milani, a director who has been our guest many times in the past and is a favorite of Chicago audiences. We are especially pleased to present the Chicago premiere of Kiarostami’s exciting and challenging film SHIRIN, as well as the first Chicago run of Majid Majidi’s comically touching THE SONG OF SPARROWS, and the U.S. premiere of THE DOUBT, winner of Best Film at Tehran’s Fajr Film Festival.
The history of Iranian cinema before and after the 1979 revolution is examined through the work of its greatest cameramen in the U.S. premiere of Aziz Sa’ati’s THE IRANIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS. A more personal side of film history is seen in Hossein Khandan’s ANOTHER SALUTE, in which actor Khosro Shakibaie goes in search of another star, Behrouz Vossoughi. One of the most revered figures in all of Iranian cinema and veteran of more than ninety films, Behrouz Vossoughi himself honors us with a personal appearance on Saturday, November 21.
Each year we pay some attention to films of the Iranian diaspora, and on opening weekend we present the Chicago premiere of THE GLASS HOUSE, Hamid Rahmanian’s powerful documentary. Rahmanian and writer/producer Melissa Hibbard appear in person on October 3 and 4.
The Gene Siskel Film Center thanks the many individuals, companies, and agencies in Iran and in the U.S. whose invaluable efforts, good will and support have made this year’s festival possible. Special thanks to Farabi Cinema Foundation, an agency which promotes Iranian cinema around the world, and its international affairs director Amir Esfandiari and his staff, especially Reza Tashakkori; Katayoon Shahabi, Sheherazad Media International; Aziz Sa’ati and Mitra Mahasseni; Manlin Sterner, MK2; and Melissa Hibbard and Hamid Rahmanian, Fictionville Studio. Thanks for advice and cooperation to: Mohammad Atebbai, Iranian Independents; and Alireza Shahrokhi and Ali Haji Ghasemi, IRIB Media Trade.
The Festival of Films from Iran would not be possible without the vital interest and generous support of many friends including: Mehrnaz Saeedvafa, Artistic Consultant, Amir Normandi, Community Affairs Consultant, Simin Hemmati-Rasmussen, Cultural Affairs Consultant; Hossein Khandan; Mohammad Pakshir; Hamid Naficy; Ahmad Sadri, Lake Forest College; and Narimon Safavi, Pasfarda Arts & Cultural Exchange.
—Barbara Scharres
CANCELED
An Evening with Behrouz Vossoughi
The celebration of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s 20th Annual Festival of Films from Iran culminates in a very special personal appearance by the legendary Iranian star Behrouz Vossoughi to discuss his distinguished international career in film, theater, and television. Veteran of more than ninety films over forty years, including GHEISAR (1969) and THE DEER (GAVAZNHA, 1976) by Masud Kimiaie, TIGHT SPOT (TANGSIR, 1974) by Amir Naderi, and DESIDERIUM (SOOTEH-DELAN, 1978) by Ali Hatami, Vossoughi was a beloved and wildly popular star prior to the 1979 revolution. He remains one of the most revered figures in all of Iranian cinema in his present home in the U.S. Experience this unique evening of film clips and discussion in the presence of one of the greats of world cinema. (BS)
Due to Mr. Vossoughi's illness, this event has been canceled. The Film Center apologizes for any inconvenience. In place of the program, we have added a screening of the made-in-Chicago independent feature EYE OF THE SANDMAN.
- November 21st—8:00pm
Chicago premiere!
SUPERSTAR
2009, Tahmineh Milani, Iran, 106 min.
With Shahab Hosseini, Fataneh Malek-Mohammadi
A favorite of Chicago audiences and a storyteller who never fails to please, Tahmineh Milani (CEASE FIRE, THE UNWANTED WOMAN) delves into the tabloid-worthy life of a fictional Iranian film star for a poignant tale of redemption. Mercurial, self-indulgent star Kourosh (Hosseini, winner of Best Actor at the Fajr Film Festival) has his bachelor’s life disrupted when a young fan on the set of his new film declares herself his daughter, the previously unknown progeny of a long-ago affair. The disbelieving actor resists, then in time accepts, but details add up a bit too neatly: who is this woman really? In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 3rd—6:00pm
- October 4th—3:00pm
Iranian Diaspora
Chicago premiere!
Filmmakers in person!
THE GLASS HOUSE
2008, Hamid Rahmanian, USA/Iran, 92 min.
An unorthodox Tehran rehabilitation center for teen girls is at the center of this equally unusual film that unfolds more like a fictional story of family drama than a documentary. With newfound bravery and confidence engendered by the tough mother-love practiced in their empowering haven, four girls still coming to terms with the shattering effects of addiction, rape, or abandonment bring filmmaker Rahmanian (DAY BREAK) into their homes and relationships for a searing yet hopeful look at the lives of young women considered to be trash by respectable Iranian society. In Persian with English subtitles. THE GLASS HOUSE is presented in cooperation with the Islamic World Studies Department and the Communication Department at Lake Forest College. HDCAM video. (BS)
Director Hamid Rahmanian and writer/producer Melissa Hibbard will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
- October 3rd—8:00pm
- October 4th—5:00pm
First Chicago run!
THE SONG OF SPARROWS
(AVAZE GONJESHK-HA)
2008, Majid Majidi, Iran, 96 min.
With Mohammad Amir Naji, Maryam Akbari
“Beautifully shot and bursting with life…opens your eyes and warms your heart.”—Michael Wilmington, Movie City News
“Positively profound…another poetic gem for Iranian cinema.”—David Fear, Time Out New York
Oscar-nominated director Majidi (CHILDREN OF HEAVEN) is in top form with this saga that begins with a quest but ends with a man finding his heart’s desire in his own backyard. Karim (Naji, in a performance that won the Berlin Film Festival’s Best Actor award), a grizzled farm-country husband and father, gets fired from his job, ponders the solution to a different family crisis, and sets off on his motorbike for Tehran. The big city opens his eyes but begins to close his heart until capricious fate steps in to adjust his course. Majidi punctuates the story with lovely moments of physical comedy worthy of a silent film, and dashes a series of dreams only to present them born anew. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 9th—6:00pm
- October 10th—6:00pm
- October 11th—5:00pm
- October 12th—6:00pm
- October 14th—8:00pm
Chicago premiere!
WIND BLOWS IN THE MEADOW
(BAD DAR ALAFZAR MIPIC)
2008, Khosro Masoumi, Iran, 91 min.
With Elnaz Shakerdoust, Hossein Abedini
After being maimed in a forestry accident, the father of a pretty village girl grasps for the economic lifeline dangled by the area’s wealthiest family by agreeing to marry his only daughter to their mentally impaired son. Daughter Shooka (Shakerdoust) angles for a lifeline of her own when the browbeaten assistant of the tailor hired to make her wedding dress initiates a clandestine courtship. Set in the snowy splendor of northern Iran, the film draws a trajectory headed for tragic conflict when fates become intertwined. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 10th—8:00pm
- October 11th—3:00pm
U.S. premiere!
HEIRAN
2009, Shalizeh Arefpour, Iran, 88 min.
With Baran Kosari, Mehrdad Sedighian, Khosro Shakibaei
The debut of a new Iranian woman filmmaker is something to celebrate, and director Arefpour’s first feature (produced by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and starring her actress daughter Baran Kosari) suggests another promising career in the making. To the dismay of her family, Heiran (Kosari), college-bound, and the apple of her father’s eye, falls in love with a shy Afghan youth who is in Iran on a student visa. The course of love runs smoothly compared with the course of hasty marriage, and Heiran soon finds herself living in the margins with a husband regarded as an illegal alien. Beloved actor Khosro Shakibaie is seen in his final role as the grandfather. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 17th—6:00pm
- October 18th—3:00pm
Chicago premiere!
THE DOUBT
(TARDID)
2009, Varouzh Karim-Massihi, Iran, 120 min.
With Bahram Radan, Taraneh Alidousti
Winner of Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay at Tehran’s 2009 Fajr Film Festival, THE DOUBT takes on themes of incest, murder and madness with Shakespearean flair. Following the sudden death of his father, the son of a large and wealthy family is distressed when his mother announces immediate plans to marry his uncle. The story’s overt parallels with Hamlet become more than evident with the appearance of a ghost, and director Karim-Massihi brings some madcap humor to the schematic aspects of the melodrama as the situation descends into chaos. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 17th—8:00pm
- October 18th—5:00pm
TEN
2002, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran , 94 min.
With Mania Akbari, Amin Maher
"A work of inspired simplicity...a movie whose greatest virtue is its wry, compassionate precision."—A.O. Scott, The New York Times
No filmmaker has employed automobiles more resonantly than Iran's most celebrated director (TASTE OF CHERRY, CLOSE-UP); TEN marks Kiarostami's most concentrated use of the device, as well as his most significant treatment of female characters and feminist themes. The title refers to the number of scenes in the film, each an encounter between an elegant divorcée and the various passengers she picks up as she drives her four-wheeled microcosm through the traffic-choked streets of Tehran. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)
- October 24th—6:00pm
- October 25th—5:00pm
Chicago premiere!
Mehrnaz Saeedvafa in person!
SHIRIN
2008, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 91 min.
With Juliette Binoche, Niki Karimi, Golshifteh Farahani
“A feast for the bedazzled eye and a crash course in narrative obsession.”—Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Acclaimed as one of the masters of world cinema, Kiarostami proves once again his skill as a master illusionist in this new film that joins 10 ON TEN and FIVE DEDICATED TO OZU in his growing body of experimental work. Staged as if it were a documentary of an audience watching a film of the 12th-century Persian epic poem narrated on the soundtrack, the film is composed of close-ups of 112 Iranian actresses and French actress Juliette Binoche, as reactions to the spectacle they are watching flicker across their faces. SHIRIN functions as both a marvelous lesson in the artifice of cinema and as a meditation on the captivating power of woman. In Persian with English subtitles. HDCAM video. (BS)
Mehrnaz Saeedvafa, associate professor in the Film Department, Columbia College Chicago, and co-author (with Jonathan Rosenbaum) of Abbas Kiarostami, will introduce the film and lead an audience discussion following the screening on Saturday.
- October 24th—8:00pm
- October 25th—3:00pm
KANDAHAR
(aka SUN BEHIND THE MOON)
(SAFAR E GHANDEHAR)
2001, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran, 81 min.
With Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tantai
“Visually exalting, emotionally horrifying.”—Deborah Young, Variety
“Groundbreaking.”—J. Hoberman, Village Voice
“Sheds an unforgiving light on the last days of the Taliban.”—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
When KANDAHAR was released almost a decade ago, no one would have guessed that this road movie set against Afghanistan’s agony would still seem in equal parts current and timeless. The veiled women, the scores of amputees, the unschooled girls, and the little boys reciting the Koran with automatic weapons in their laps are images that remain suspended in the forefront of world politics. Makhmalbaf, a great visual poet of the absurd, sets Canadian journalist Nafas (Pazira) on a trek through the dangerous desert wasteland in a search for her sister that will become a surreal journey into the unimaginable. In Persian, English, Pashtu, and Polish with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
- October 31st—6:00pm
- November 1st—5:15pm
THE IRANIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS
(FILMBARDARAN-E CINEMAY-E IRAN)
2006, Aziz Sa’ati, Iran, 67 min.
ANOTHER SALUTE
2009, Hossein Khandan, USA, 50 min.
The history of the Iranian cinema is told through the careers of its cameramen in THE IRANIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS, a documentary packed with a wealth of film clips unreeling the rich and varied history of filmmaking in Iran since 1900. Director Sa'ati, also renowned as a cameramen for his work on iconic films including Makhmalbaf’s THE PEDDLER and THE CYCLIST, and Bani-Etemad’s THE BLUE-VEILED, gained access to archives to provide a rare and unprecedented look at Iranian filmmaking from the '50s, '60s and '70s through the master works of the post-revolution new Iranian cinema. DV-CAM video.
Followed by ANOTHER SALUTE, a film following popular actor Khosro Shakibaie (who died in 2008) on a trip across the U.S. following his appearance at the Film Center in 2000, to pay tribute to his idol, the great exiled Iranian star Behrouz Vossougi. Shakibaie, ever the star in his own right, punctuates the journey with dramatic asides on life, acting, and friendship. Mini-DV video. Both in Persian with English subtitles. (BS)
- October 31st—8:00pm
- November 1st—3:00pm