18th Iranian Film Market Showcases 150 Iranian Films

The 18th Iranian Film Market runs from April 27th – May 2nd, 2015. Several Iranian film organizations such as, Farabi Cinematic Foundation, Press TV, Deayat Media, IIDCYA, Hozeye Honari, Eshragh Institute, IRIB Channels, and DEFC, have been presenting their films to the foreign guests of the 33rd Annual Fajr Film Festival.

Below are some of the films being shown this year:

We Have Guests, Angels Come Together, Mezar Sharif, Rana’s Silence, Nahid, 360 Degrees, Wednesday 19th Ordibehesht, Haji Shah, Fatness, Time For Love, Confessions of My Dangerous Mind, The Blue Sky of My Mother, Iran Burger, Paris to Paris, Morning of the 7th Day, Bet, Father of the Other, I Am a Mother, All That Men Do Not Know about Women, Bloody Wednesday, Parviz, One Night, A Man Who Became a Horse, From Tehran to Heaven, Dandruff, Red Carpet, Snow, Two, Closer, Taboo, Rainy Station, and We Are All Alone.

Documentaries presented by DEFC include: Atlan, I Want to Be a King, Mr. Workless, The Dolls Do Not Know, Fried Fish, The Host, The Law of the Jungle, Champions, and the Robes.

In addition to the films mentioned above, over 300 short, animated, and feature-length films will also be shown to international guests. Maryam Naghibi, head of the Iran Film Market, said more than 300 short films, animated films and feature films were presented to international guests.

This is an incredible event where people from all over the world gather to see what Iran’s filmmakers have to offer. Delagates from film festivals around the world, producers, filmmakers, and those eager for collaboration all attend the Film Market to make connections, network, and perhaps find cinematic gems to share with audiences at home.

[Image via Tehran Times]

25th Annual UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema

This Saturday marks the beginning of UCLA’s Celebration of Iranian Cinema – a three week long film festival screening 11 films from Iranian filmmakers – both from within Iran and around the world. Sponsored by Farhang Foundation and held at the Billy Wilder Theatre at the Hammer Museum in Westwood Village, the film festival aims to “explore the diverse currents of Iranian cinema with its annual series highlighting recent and classical films from Iran and the Iranian diaspora.”

The festival kicks off this Saturday, April 25th at 7:30 PM with award-winning filmmaker Rakhshan Banietemad’s Tales (Ghesse-ha / قصه ها) who will be in attendance for a Q + A after the screening of her film and a VIP reception [check out the trailer for her film below]. This year’s festival line up will screen films by by both established filmmakers and highly regarded emerging artists. Along with Rakhshan Banietemad, Shahram Mokri, Kamran Heidari, Sepideh Farsi, Zhinous Pedram and Amir Badie will also be in attendance for Q + A panels and sessions throughout the festival.

Iran’s cinematic history is a long and fruitful one, spanning more than a hundred years. Since the 1990s, Iran has been widely considered one of the best exporters of cinema in the world, with figures such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Samira Makhmalbaf, Asghar Farhadi, and Majid Majidi being amongst the most prolific and highly regarded filmmakers of Iranian New Wave cinema. What’s incredibly exciting about this film festival is not only that it is one of the longest running Iranian film festivals in the United States, but that it consistently serves to bridge the gap between the two countries and creates a dialogue between people separated by more than just physical miles. One can only imagine that cultural exchanges such as this only continue to blossom hope in the hearts and minds of everyone who takes part.

The festival runs through Saturday, May 16, 2015. For more information about program schedule, please visit Farhang Foundation’s event page. For tickets, please visit https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015/iranian-cinema!

Trailer – TALES (Rakhshan Banietemad, 2014)

 
 

UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema

When: Saturday, April 25 – Saturday, May 16, 2015

Where: Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

Cost: $10; FREE to all UCLA students with valid ID; $8 other students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members with ID.

 
 
 

Festival of Iranian Films 2015

Hailing from Iran, artistic director Kaveh Daneshmand holds the 4th edition of the Festival of Iranian Films (FIF) in Prauge, Czech Republic. The film buff first started the festival in his 20’s and has watched it grow over the years into a full-fledged competitive film event.

The theme of this year’s festival is “Rebels of Iranian Cinema”, which will comprise of 20 films competing in four separate categories: Feature Film, Out of Competition, Documentary, and Short Film. Winners will be based off of various factors such as the top pick of the audience as well as a Jury panel of highly credited and important persons in both the Iranian and Czech film/TV world. With over 150 films being made in the Islamic Republic every year, there is something to be said about the importance and effect of these chosen 20 films. Most of the films featured are made with an extremely low budget, and therefore are not chosen or judged based on their wow factor or political effect. Instead, the films are chosen based on “high artistic values and a brave approach to their subject matter”.

Daneshmand notes the difference between the current young filmmakers claiming, “unlike the previous generation, this one is not going through metaphors: They go straight to the heart of the topic.” This rebellious and straightforward vision of the young generation of filmmakers may have been what inspired the theme of this year’s festival. One possible reason for this new wave of directness may relate to the recent leniency from the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, which requires all scripts to be approved before release. One film that has been creating a lot of buzz since it’s release in 2013 is Shahram Mokri’s film Fish & Cat (Mahi Va Gorbeh). The movie is filmed in one long single take and depicts a restaurant that serves human flesh. Seen as a more provocative film, the Ministry did allow the film to be screened in selected theatres for a short time, resulting in sold-out screenings all over Iran. One of the most known films featured in this year’s festival is the dark vampire flick titled A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, which has already been screened across the world including in the United States. Iranian- American director Lilly Amirpour is one of many female directors whose films are featured in this year’s festival; Daneshmand noting that one-quarter of Iranian filmmakers are in fact women.

This year the festival will take place not only in Prague where it originated, but it is to be extended to the city of Brno. This extension shows just how popular and respected this festival is in the Czech Republic, and its success in representing and exposing Iranian films and filmmakers to a wider audience.

Fourth Festival of Iranian Films
When: Jan. 7–11 in Prague; Jan. 13–15 in Brno
Where: Kino Světozor and Bio Oko in Prague; Kino Scala in Brno
Tickets: 100–110 Kč
Iranianfilmfestival.cz

via www.praguepost.com

Shirin Neshat Film at BNLMTL 2014

Taking place in the heart of Montréal is this years multifaceted art event BNLMTL 2014 (Biennale de Montréal) which was originally launched in 1998 by the Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal. The BNLMTL’s mission is simple :

“The mission of La Biennale de Montréal is to foster, support, interpret and disseminate the most current visual arts practices by producing the biennial event BNLMTL. In this way, La Biennale de Montréal offers a wide audience a privileged opportunity to grasp the esthetic and social issues addressed by today’s art. La Biennale de Montréal also provides an international platform for Québec and Canadian artists, curators, theoreticians, art critics and researchers working in various fields to meet, encounter and discuss cutting-edge practices, and contribute to different international networks.”

via http://bnlmtl2014.org/en/about/about-bnlmtl/

The giant art expo features over 60 artists, including the celebrated Iranian female visual artist Shirin Neshat. Exhibiting her latest film, Illusions & Mirrors (2013), which deals with themes such as the self and seeing one’s self from a distance or the outside. This black and white short film stars world renowned actress Natalie Portman as a woman exploring her hazy memories and hallucinations. We are presented with various scenes such as Portman on the shore running through sand dunes, seeing a blurry male figure in the distance, following this figure up a flight of stairs, and lastly pressed up against a window looking out into the distance.

You can view the trailer below: