In conjunction with the visit of a group of prominent Iranian filmmakers to Los Angeles, the Academy and the UCLA Film & Television Archive will present a series of recent Iranian films, each followed by a discussion with one or more of the film's principal creators.

Filmmaking has a long and impressive history in Iran, a country of poets and storytellers.  The large and well-established community of Iranian film artists currently working in Tehran and elsewhere has developed both technical expertise and a lyrical narrative style that has been embraced by film viewers, and honored by numerous film festivals, throughout the world.  At the same time, new filmmakers and different narrative structures are emerging.

UCLA has one of the oldest ongoing Iranian film festivals in the United States, but rarely have the filmmakers been present at their screenings.  This program offers eight recent films, representing each of the members of a visiting artist delegation from Iran, and will offer the opportunity to hear about their creative process in their own words.  The five nights of screenings will begin at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus and conclude at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.  Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately.


Friday, October 9, through Sunday, October 11
at the UCLA Film & Television Archive's James Bridges Theater
 
Thursday, October 15, and Friday, October 16
at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater

SCREENINGS AT THE UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE'S
JAMES BRIDGES THEATER  (Melnitz Hall, on the northeast corner of UCLA's campus in Westwood, near the intersection of Sunset Blvd. and Hilgard Ave.)
 
Friday, October 9
7:30 p.m.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Join us for a conversation with the members of the visiting artist delegation: directors Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Ebrahim Hatamikia, Reza Mir-Karimi, Mojtaba Raie and Alireza Raisian; actors Amin Tarokh and Fatemah Motamed-Aria; screenwriter Farhad Tohidi; and documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.

AS SIMPLE AS THAT  
2008
DIR: Reza Mir-Karimi.  SCR: R. Mir-Karimi, Shadmehr Ratin.  CAST: Hengameh Ghaziani, Mehran Kashani, Nayereh Farahani.
Tahereh suffers from a problem common to all classes of Iranian women (and women around the world): her inner life and her artistic ambitions have been overwhelmed by the demands of her home, self-absorbed husband and materialistic children.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 97 min.

IN PERSON:  Reza Mir-Karimi.

 
Saturday, October 10
7:30 p.m.
LADY OF THE ROSES
2008
DIR/SCR: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.
This documentary tells the story of the late Shahindokht Sanati, who transformed the agricultural destiny of an entire region in pre-revolutionary Iran through the planting of roses in place of poppies, and the production of rosewater in place of opium.
DVCam, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 40 min.

IN PERSON:  Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.


IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
2005
DIR/ SCR: Ebrahim Hatamikia.  CAST: Golshifteh Farahani, Parviz Parastui, Mahtab Nasirpour.
A young girl whose father was a military commander in the Iran-Iraq war goes to an ancient hill near the Iraq border in search of old pots, only to encounter mines that were placed there by her own father.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 105 min.

IN PERSON:  Ebrahim Hatamikia.


Sunday, October 11
7 p.m.
JOURNEY TO HIDALOU
2005
DIR/SCR: Mojtaba Raei. CAST: Mahmoud Niyyat, Parvaneh Masoumi, Mahnaz Afzali.
An aging university professor experiences a spiritual journey in three stages as he confronts problems with his health and marriage: bewilderment, awakening and finally, enchantment.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 110 min.  

IN PERSON:  Mojtaba Raie.
 

Tickets for screenings at UCLA may be purchased at www.cinema.ucla.edu. For more information, call (310) 206-FILM.



SCREENINGS AT THE ACADEMY'S LINWOOD DUNN THEATER

Thursday, October 15
7 p.m.
THE MOTHER   
1991
DIR/SCR: Ali Hatami.  CAST: Rogheyeh Chehreh-Azad, Akbar Abdi, Amin Tarok.
The younger members of a family gather around their dying mother and relive their childhood memories, as the mother prepares herself for her passing by involving herself in the planning of her funeral ceremony.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 108 min.

IN PERSON:  Amin Tarokh.

HAVANA FILE  
2006
DIR: Alireza Raisian.  SCR: Farhad Tohidi.  CAST: Niki Karimi, Amin Tarokh, Hamid Rezapegah.
When the government cancels a promising biotechnology project, the western-educated Iranian scientist in charge of the project finds himself discredited when he takes his complaints to the press.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 110 min.

IN PERSON:  Alireza Raisian, Farhad Tohidi.
 
 
Friday, October 16    
7 p.m.
GILANEH    
2005
DIR: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Mohsen Abdolvahab.  SCR: R. Bani-Etemad, Farid Mostafavi, M. Abdolvahab. CAST: Majid Bahrami, Shahrokh Foroutanian, Fatemah Motamed-Aria.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Gilane takes an arduous journey from her village to war-torn Tehran in search of her pregnant daughter's husband.  Fifteen years later, as another war begins in Iraq, her suffering continues as she manages her son's war-related illness.
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 84 min.

IN PERSON:  Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Fatemah Motamed-Aria.


7:05 P.M.  
2009
DIR: Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour.  SCR: Farhad Tohidi.  CAST: Reza Kianian, Reza Attaran, Isabelle Pasco
Three Iranian women of different ages living in France face a variety of questions about life and death, love and betrayal, each asking "Is life always worth living?"
35mm, color, in Farsi with English subtitles, 90 min.

IN PERSON:  Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, Farhad Tohidi.


Tickets for screenings at the Academy may be purchased at www.oscars.org. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.

... Payvand News - 10/06/09 ... --

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