Filmfarsi

We now know Iranian film as a cinema of artistic ambition and discreet (and sometimes direct) resistance, but before the revolution of 1979, Iran had a vigorous popular movie culture, with melodramas, sex, action and plenty of macho stars.

Ehsan Khoshbakht, a co-director of the respected festival Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna (Italy), narrates his film journey into that era in this stunning compilation/distillation of films that were among the casualties of Iran’s transformation after the fall of the Shah. A notorious event in 1978 was prophtic. Islamists firebombed the Rex Theater in Abadan, killing 470 who were watching The Deer (Gavazhna), directed by Masoud Kimiai and starring the legendary Behrouz Vossoughi.   For most of today’s audience, Filmfarsi will be a poetic introduction to a rough and tumble screen history that they never knew.  To those who lived with these films, Filmfarsi is a kaleidoscope of popular archaeology.  

Filmography: A Journey through Iranian Cinema (short, 2013).