The Iranian cinema was
incepted with non fiction and factual films.
In 1900 Mirsa Ibrahim
khan Akkasbashi. Got acquainted with cinema in an international
exhibition in Paris and filmed in Stand of Belgium upon his return
from the said quasi – explorative journey he spent some time prior
to the constitutional movement to capture lives of the people living
in capital.
Newsreels first
appeared on the screen during the Reign of Reza shah pahlavi.
The Syracuse university
s Training programs were launched in 1953 in Tehran. After
after a year period of theoretical study they graduates employed at
Iran audio- visual organization and actually made film.
During 1950 a new
generation of film makers showed interest in nonfiction and
documentary cinema and started working alongside governmental and
private sections film makers.
amongst them mention can be
made of Mostafa farzaneh Ibrahim Golestan , Farrokh Ghaffari ,
Freidoon… Rahnama . Golestan founded the Golestan film
organization and films such as “A fire” , “Marlik Hills” ,
“the wave, the coral and the Rock, fetched the first
international awards for Iran from Pesaro , Venice, and san
Francisco Festivals .Top
Forough Farrokhzad made “the house
is black”, there. This film is set in an asylum for
leprous but provides poetic picture of the special
conditions of asylum, and the general situation of man.
A number of cinema graduates
returned From Europe in early 1960’s and joined the
documentary film Department of film Arts Administration.
Hazhir Dariush, Made, Holy pit, and ManuchehrTayyab’s “Rhythm”
blended Music and picture.
Mohammad Faroughi, produced “The
dawn of Capricorn” about isphahan, which won awards from
the Cannes film festival in 1964. Kamran
Sheerdel, who had
studied cinema in Italy, directed his camera toward secrets
of the capital and the Prohibited places. His triple film
“fort” , Tehran is the capital of Iran “and women’s prison,
are distinguished From pictorial, artistic film relying on
editing.
Khosrow Sinai is another film
graduate whose dilute picture was “A sound that becomes
Antique” . He has directed many films including “The cold iron”.Top
In 1966, Abol Qassem Rezaee
and Jalal Moqaddam produced “House of God “, which was the
first important Iranian documentary that was widely
distributed in the country. Many people went to the cinema
theatres for the first time ever to watch this picture.
The film “acorn” 1968, was Iran’s
first scientific ethnographic
Film directed by Dr. Nader Afshar
Naderie. His cinematic approach was followed and kept up
by Hossein Taheridoost , winner of the first prize of
ABU festival in 1973, with his film “acorn”, Farhad Varahram,
with his film Taraz , and “ sacred marriage “ (1995) ,
Mohammad Reza Moghaddasian with his film water and
Irrigation and Ahmad zabeti jahromi with his film “ Desert
ship” .
Iran’s national television was
launched in 1966 , and several groups of younger
documentarists made documentaries there Among them reference
can be made to Naseeb Naseebi who was highly influenced
by experimental cinema, directed “ Yosh, Anahita temple “,
Parviz kimyavi’s “ya zamen Ahoo” , was a deeply human film.
Naser Taghvai made “Bade jenn”.
Top
Mohammad Tahami Nejade made The
first film about the history of Iranian cinema in a
hybrid form (1970). Manuchehr
Asgari Nasab , made “ pear sabz
chekchekoo “ , and Manuchehr tabari made his film Daravish
Qaderiyyeh. Kiumarth Deram Bakhsh made “The desert camel
Drivers ” and Mohammad Reza Aslani made the experimental
film “Hassanbucup”.
Manuchehr Tayyab. Produced his
architectural films in 1971.
In 1980’s , Hamid Soheili
produced a series entitled “Iranian architecture for the
Islamic Re Public of Iran’s Broadcasting. Different types of
films with diverse objectives and out looks were produced
after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. The society’s
revolutionary situation mad it suitable for researching the
past and its legacy :
“ Copper, the political Metal ”
(Ali ya – ghobi), Autol ( jamshid zahedi) , soil to soil (Manuchehr
Moshiri) , migration (Ali Naini), children and exploitation (M.R.
Aslani), the Brick kilns (M.R. Moqaddasian), Bread from mud by
Farideh Shafaee Caviar (Ibrahim Mokhtari), were among them.Top
Seven stories of Baluchistan (Morteza
Avini) and “the bitten by The khan” had such a theme ,
also , and were produced in Jihad in 1981, the IRIB,
approved the project for the “housing crisis “ , and three
films were made by freydoon javadi and others ,In the mid
1980’s and early 1990’s , Rakhshan Bani Etemad workeon
social films including “concentration” and “to whom are you
going to show these films?
During these years Sinaee
produced the lost Elegy, Abbas Kiarostami made “Night
Homework” and Mohsen MakhMalbaf produced “Salute Cinema”.
On September 20,1980 Iraqi
planes violated Iranian air space and Iraqi troops invaded
Iran’s border cities. The war directed our documentarists to
the fronts and numerous different war films were produced.
Iran’s documentary
cinema has undergone a change since 1979. the portable camera,
widely were being used during the days of the revolution ,
has highly assisted the direct cinema. Documentarists also
depicts subjects which seem to be beyond prevalent practice
and norms of Iranian cinema but which offer palpable and
worthy study of society.
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