18th Annual Festival of Films from Iran

18th Annual Festival of Films from Iran
October 6 - November 5, 2007

The Gene Siskel Film Center welcomes you to the 18th Annual Festival of Films from Iran, October 6 through November 5. This year's festival represents an exceptionally diverse selection of films, from new work by major directors to popular comedies rarely seen outside of Iran. All fourteen films are Chicago premieres; eight of them are U.S. premieres.
The enjoyable omnibus film PERSIAN CARPET provides a survey of the artistic range of Iranian cinema in miniature through fifteen shorts, all around the theme of the carpet, by directors including Abbas Kiarostami, Bahman Farmanara, Jafar Panahi, Majid Majidi, Dariush Mehrjui, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, and many more. Films distinguished by awards and critical accolades at major film festivals worldwide include: HALF MOON, RAAMI, UNFINISHED STORIES, THOSE THREE, and A FEW DAYS LATER.
For those who think of Iranian cinema as essentially somber and serious, check out RULE OF THE GAME and DEPORTEES. Unique and personal variations on the documentary include THE RED CARD and 10 + 4.
This year we initiate a series of mini-discussions following selected Saturday evening screenings, moderated by well-known authorities on Iranian cinema. Director Amir Hamz appears in person with his film SOUNDS OF SILENCE on October 27 and 28. Meet the director following the show on October 27, at a free reception sponsored by Pasfarda Arts & Cultural Exchange.
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. Special thanks to Mohammad Atebbai of Iranian Independents for advice and cooperation. Thanks to Alireza Shahrokhi and Ali Haji Ghasemi, CIMA Media International; Katayoon Shahabi, Sheherazad Media International; Shirin Naderi, Documentary and Experimental Film Center; Monique A. Indre, MI Films, Inc.; and David Bowlds, Strand Releasing. The Festival of Films from Iran would not be possible without the vital interest and generous support of many friends including: Mehrnaz Saeed-vafa, Artistic Consultant, Amir Normandi, Community Affairs Consultant, Simin Hemmati-Rasmussen, Cultural Affairs Consultant; Hossein Khandan, CinemaIran; Mohammad Pakshir; Hamid Naficy; Ahmad Sadri; Narimon Safavi; Pasfarda Arts & Cultural Exchange; and the Setareh List. Chicago Public Radio is the premier radio sponsor; the Chicago Reader is the premier print sponsor.
--Barbara Scharres

--Barbara Scharres

North American premiere!
DANDELIONS DANCE IN THE WIND
(GHASEDAK-HA DAR BAD MIRAGHSAND)
2007, Mohammad-Ebrahim Mo'ayyeri, 88 min.
With Mosa Khademian, Anahita Ghafarian
A fresh take on the coming-of-age film, DANDELIONS DANCE IN THE WIND is lyrical yet rich in realism. In a little railroad town in the north of Tehran, the trains mark the rhythm of life as much as the shuttles of the textile factory's looms. The factory closes, the workers riskily protest in the streets, and yet life is full of wonder for young Davood, whose lessons are not all learned in school. Sinuous camera work and a remarkable sensitivity to the seasons and the magic moments of childhood mark director Mo'ayyeri as a filmmaker to watch. In Persian with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)

Sunday, October 7, 3:00 pm
Thursday, October 11, 8:15 pm

Chicago premiere!
DEPORTEES
(aka THE OUTCASTS)
(EKHRAJIHA)
2007, Massoud Dehnamaki, Iran, 110 min.
With Akbar Abdi, Amin Hayayi
Failing to bamboozle his future father-in-law that he's just returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca rather than a stint in the slammer, an ex-con gets suckered into joining his buddies at the front in the Iran-Iraq war. Comic mayhem rather than martyrdom is on their minds, and to that end DEPORTEES mercilessly lampoons religious fanaticism, war, and misanthropic mullahs. A current record-breaking hit at the box office in Iran, this iconoclastic comedy in the groundbreaking tradition of THE LIZARD is also this year's most controversial Iranian film due to the director's history as a former Hezbollah enforcer who is now a filmmaker critical of the religious regime. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
A fifteen-minute audience discussion moderated by Mehrnaz Saeed-vafa, filmmaker, faculty member at Columbia College Chicago, and co-author of Abbas Kiarostami, follows the Saturday screening.

Saturday, October 13, 8:00 pm
Sunday, October 14, 5:00 pm

Chicago premiere!
A FEW DAYS LATER
(CHAND ROOZ B'AD)
2006, Niki Karimi, Iran, 78 min.
With Niki Karimi, Ehsan Amani
With this second feature as director, award-winning actress Niki Karimi (THE HIDDEN HALF, TWO WOMEN) rises to the challenge of directing herself. The façade of 30-something graphic designer Shahrzad's sophisticated lifestyle develops stress cracks when her evasive fiance appears to be seeing his ex on the sly. Other problems reach critical mass: an unhappy client, an unfinished home renovation, a sick child, and a failing father. Karimi subtly evokes the psychic state of suspension of a woman who desperately needs to buy time. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Saturday, November 3, 6:00 pm
Sunday, November 4, 3:00 pm

Chicago premiere!
HALF MOON
(NIWEMANG)
2006, Bahman Ghobadi, Iran/Iraq/Austria/France, 114 min.
With Ismail Ghaffari, Allah Morad Rashtiani
"Startling beauty, raucous humor. . . wonderfully eccentric."--Ronnie Scheib, Variety
"The overall ethno-funkiness brings Ghobadi within hailing distance of such folk cinema maestros as Alexandr Dovzhenko and Sergei Paradjanov."--J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Ghobadi (A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES, TURTLES CAN FLY), the cinematic chronicler of Kurdish Iran, adds a new fable to his acclaimed body of work set in the formidable mountainscape of Kurdistan. A revered old musical master puts out a call to his ten "sons" to join him on a trek to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein on the Iraqi side of the border. The absurdly comic adventure soon takes on both mystical and tragic dimensions fomented by the secret inclusion of a forbidden woman singer. Folkloric music takes center stage to haunting effect. In Kurdish and Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. Special advance screening courtesy of Strand Releasing. (BS)
A fifteen-minute audience discussion moderated by Ahmad Sadri, Professor of Sociology and Gorton Chair of Islamic World Studies, Lake Forest College, follows the Saturday screening.

Saturday, October 6, 8:00 pm
Sunday, October 7, 5:00 pm

U.S. premiere!
NIGHT BUS
(OTOBOUS-E SHAHBANEH)
2007, Kiumars Pourahmad, Iran, 90 min.
With Mehrdad Seddiqian, Khosro Shakibai
On a remote edge of the Iran-Iraq conflict, a teenaged recruit is charged with escorting a busload of blindfolded Iraqi POWs to a camp over a land-mined desert road. His only backup: a wounded comrade and the sour, skeptical driver (a terrific world-weary performance by Shakibai). Variety critic Deborah Young observed, "Director Pourahmad boldly denounces the senselessness of the conflict which pitted ordinary men from two closely related nations against each other at the behest of fanatical leaders. Though he stops short of criticizing Iran's ayatollahs, the viewer is left free to do so." In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Saturday, October 27, 6:00 pm
Monday, October 29, 8:15 pm

U.S. premiere!
PERSIAN CARPET
(FARSH-E IRANI)
2007, Various directors, Iran, 109 min.
Fifteen acclaimed Iranian directors conjure up a magic carpet made of movies to explore the meaning of the iconic textile. Episodes include: "Nomadic Carpet" by Behrouz Afkhami; "The 3D Carpet" by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad; "Eloquent Carpet" by Bahram Bayzai; "Untying the Knot" by Jafar Panahi; "Land Carpet" by Kamal Tabrizi; "Fire & Woof" by Seifollah Dad; "The Command of Aqa Seyyed Reza" by Mojtaba Raie; "Magic Carpet" by Noureddin Zarrinkelk; "Carpet, Horse, Torkaman" by Khosro Sinaie; "Carpet and Life" by Bahman Farmanara; "Is There a Place to Approach" by Abbas Kiarostami; "A Handmade Gift Presented to a Friend" by Majid Majidi; "The Carpet and the Angel" by Dariush Mehrjui; "Memory, Memory…" by Reza Mir-Karimi; and "Copy Cannot Beat the Genuine" by Mohammad Reza Honarmand." In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Sunday, October 21, 3:00 pm
Monday, October 22, 7:45 pm

U.S. premiere!
RAAMI
2007, Babak Shirinsefat, Iran/Azerbaijan, 76 min.
With Kamran Younes, Farhad Ghaemian
The story of an Azerbaijani musician searching for his Armenian wife lost in war takes on a mythic quality as the past and present intermingle on a hitchhiking trip to Iran in pursuit of a decade-old clue. The trials of an uncertain quest stand in contrast to the lyrical beauty of the musician's memories, rendered with the color and delicacy of a Persian miniature. The director cites Bengali poet/composer Rabindranath Tagore as a major influence in shaping this narrative rich in folkloric imagery and traditional music. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Saturday, October 13, 6:15 pm
Monday, October 15, 8:00 pm

U.S. premiere!
THE RED CARD
(CARTE GHERMEZ)
2006, Mahnaz Afzali, Iran, 74 min.
The 2002 murder of the wife of a star soccer player by his longtime mistress results in one of the most publicized show trials that contemporary Iran has ever known. Filmmaker Afzali captures large portions of the near-unbelievable proceedings as defendant Shahla Jahed flounces, flirts, and hurls accusations; the victim's mother calls on heaven for vengeance; and the sullen lover Nasser Mohammad Khani poses a dubious façade of innocent piety. Jahed's home movies from the love nest and Khani's bizarre guided tour of the murder site contribute to making this documentary one of the most entertaining guilty pleasures of the year. In Persian with English subtitles. Beta SP video. (BS)
A fifteen-minute audience discussion moderated by Hamid Naficy, John Evans Professor of Communication, Northwestern University, follows the Saturday screening.

Saturday, October 20, 8:15 pm
Thursday, October 25, 8:15 pm

Chicago premiere!
RED ROBIN
(SINEH SORKH)
2006, Parviz Sheikhtadi, Iran, 81 min.
With Sepideh Golchin, Mohammad-Reza Nezhad
Islamic and Christian traditions merge mysteriously in an allegorical tale of death and resurrection. A young boy's thoughtless prank results in his schoolmate tumbling to his death in a mountain ravine. Too frightened to tell, the child conceals the body and searches for someone with the fabled "Breath of Christ" to revive his friend. In a village where the Muslim cleric and the priest weep together for Jesus and Hossein, there is still a divide that will only be bridged by a sacrifice. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Sunday, October 28, 3:00 pm
Thursday, November 1, 8:15 pm

International premiere!
RULE OF THE GAME
(GHAEDEH-YE BAZI)
2007, Ahmad Reza Motamedi, Iran, 110 min.
With Dariush Arjmand, Jamshid Hashempour
Iranian comedies are seldom seen outside of Iran, which makes this goofy knee-slapper a rarity for more reasons than its large ensemble cast of famous actors. Every stereotype on the socio-economic scale is shamelessly exploited for laughs when a ragged clan discovers an inheritance shared with a family of high-living snobsters. Call it "Tehran Hillbillies" as lifestyles collide in the palatial mansion of the aristocrats with some smashing (literally and figuratively) set pieces. The cast also includes Akbar Abdi, Alireza Khamse, and Said Poursamimi. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Saturday, October 20, 6:00 pm
Sunday, October 21, 5:15 pm

Chicago premiere!
Amir Hamz in person!
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
(SOT-E SOKOUT)
2006, Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz, Iran/Germany/UK, 86 min.
The underground pop music scene in Iran thrives via the Internet despite increasingly repressive efforts by the nation's censorship bureaucracy to keep this tasty forbidden fruit away from Iran's largely under-30 population. Western genres including rock, rap, and hip hop are revamped in a Persian mode, with influences ranging from the poetry of Hafez to the Koran. Assorted bands and performers (all male, since the solo voices of women are strictly forbidden) strut their stuff in this engaging documentary, including alt-rock band O-Hum; rappers Souroush, and Reveal; and electronic band Atma. In Persian with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)

Saturday, October 27, 8:00 pm
Sunday, October 28, 5:00 pm

10 + 4
((DAH BE ALAVEH CHAHAR)
2007, Mania Akbari, Iran, 77 min.
Painter/filmmaker Mania Akbari came to international fame as the central figure in Kiarostami's 10 (TEN) in which she essentially played herself as an attractive divorced mother with a contrary young son. 10 + 4, suggested by Kiarostami and directed by Akbari four years later, is a brave and moving sequel in which she is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes treatment. Her beauty ravaged by chemo, her life shadowed by the fear of death, Akbari powerfully comes to grips with the chaos in her life that goes deeper than cancer. In Persian with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)

Sunday, October 14, 3:00 pm
Thursday, October 18, 8:15 pm

Chicago premiere!
THOSE THREE
(AN SEH)
2007, Naghi Nemati, Iran, 77 min.
With Yousef Yazdani, Dariush Ghazbani
A snowy no-man's-land is the backdrop for this intensely engaging drama in which three army recruits impulsively gone AWOL in the winter wilderness generate the heat of dissension. The simple set-up belies the vast irony that director Nemati casts over his icy allegory as the men, joined eventually by a lost and possibly abandoned woman, turn their frozen slice of life into a microcosm replete with all the tensions, rivalries, and psychological woes of the world at large. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)

Sunday, November 4, 5:00 pm
Monday, November 5, 6:00 pm

U.S. premiere!
UNFINISHED STORIES
(RAVAYATHE NATAMAM)
2007, Pourya Azarbaijani, Iran, 76 min.
With Setareh Pesyani, Hengameh Ghaziani
Three subtly interlocking stories play out in the atmospheric Tehran night, each revolving around a woman without a man. A teen runaway waits at a dark bus stop for the boyfriend with whom she has sealed a fateful pact. A wife thrown out by her husband after a fight retains only the car keys and the bitter knowledge of what she must do next. Meanwhile, at the city hospital, to skip out on the bill she can't afford, a frightened young mother hurriedly kidnaps her newborn from the deserted nursery and flees. In Persian with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)