Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston,
Nov 10–Dec 3, 2006
Our most extensive showcase
ever of contemporary Iranian cinema starts with Ceasefire, previous ILEX
award winner Tamineh Milani's hit comedy on Fri, Nov 10 at 7:45 pm. This
eighteen-film festival ends with an equally exciting program: the US premiere of
Niki Karimi's second feature, A Few Days Later..., a stunningly on-target
look at the difficult life of an artistic woman in an overpaced world. We also
show Karimi's directorial debut One Night. On Nov 18, Saba presents a
concert with traditional Persian instruments. Saba performance made possible by
a contribution from
Lala Rokh.
A Few Days Later... by Niki Karimi
The festival features Boston premieres of recent films by
other previous ILEX Award winners:
• Past ILEX award winner Fatemah
Motamed-Aria stars in Mani Haghighi's Men At Work, based on a screenplay
by Abbas Kiarostami. The festival also features Kiarostami's new film
Five, a visual meditation shot on the beautiful Caspian Sea.
• Bahman
Farmanara's A Little Kiss is a tale of two writers, one an exile, the
other a celebrated figure, take one last pilgrimage together. Also starring past
ILEX award winner Fatemah Motamed-Aria.
• Rakhshan Bani-Etemad's
Mainline, the dramatic follow-up to her 1995 addiction
documentary.
Two directors from the Makhmalbaf Film House, past ILEX
winner:
• Marzieh Meshkini's Stray Dogs follows a brother and sister's
quest to join their imprisoned mother. Marzieh Meshkini's previous films include
The Day I Became a Woman.
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Scream of the
Ants explores the conflict between atheism and faith while following a
couple on an Indian honeymoon.
Other highlights include:
• Academy
Award–nominated director Majid Majidi's The Willow Tree, an existential
drama in which a man's miraculously restored sight does not bring expected
happiness.
• When Fish Fall in Love, Ali Rafiee's tale of passion
expressed through the language of food.
• Asghar Farhadi's Fireworks
Wednesday, a look at Iran's class gap through the eyes of a young
maid.
Three documentary programs:
• Sounds of Silence explores
Iran's underground rock and hip-hop scene.
• Tehran Has No More
Pomegranates!, an ironic look at the city's history.
• Behjat
Sadr, a look at one of Iran's pioneering artists, and Kamancheh,
which follows players of this challenging traditional instrument.
Tapes
and images are available.
All films produced in Iran and in Persian with
English subtitles unless otherwise noted. Tickets: MFA members, seniors, and
students $8; general admission $10. Exceptions: Opening night and closing night
screenings $12, $15. Festival passes good for one admission to each program:
$80, $100; half passes good for eight programs: $50, $64.
Highlights from
this festival will be shown at the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art,
Washington, DC (Jan 12–Feb 18) and in Houston at both the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, and the Rice Cinema (Jan 19–Feb 11). The Boston Festival of Films and
Music from Iran is supported with a contribution from the ILEX Foundation and
made possible with assistance from Olga Davidson and Niloo Fotouhi of the ILEX
Foundation and with much guidance from film programmers Mimi Brody (UCLA Film
and Television Archive), Barbara Scharres (Gene Siskel Film Center), and Alissa
Simon (Facets Multimedia).
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