10th Anniversary Festival of Films from Iran, Chicago
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Elizabeth Castro
The Film Center
Art Institute of Chicago
280 South Columbus Drive
September 8, 1999
The Film Center of Chicago celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Festival
of Films from Iran with an exciting lineup which will screen on Saturdays
and Sundays between October 2 and 31. The Festival includes seven new
fiction features, the U.S. premiere of Dariush Mehrjui's long-banned THE
LADY (BANU), a program of archival treasures by Kamran Shirdel, and a slate
of fascinating new documentaries. Additional programs include the documentary
FRIENDLY PERSUASION which contextualizes the phenomenon of post-Revolutionary
Iranian cinema, and a special panel discussion on film criticism.
The Film Center is located in the theater of The School of the Art Institute
of Chicago at the corner of Columbus Drive and Jackson Boulevard. Ticket
prices are $7 for general admission and $3 for Film Center members. For
more information, call 312/443-3733 or 312/443-3737 (24-hour hotline).
Thanks to the support of Ilex Foundation, the National Endowment for
the Arts, and the Friends of the Festival, directors Majid Majidi, Tahmineh
Milani, Alireza Davodnezhad and Ebrahim Hatamikia, and actor Parviz Parastooie
have been invited to participate in audience discussions after the screenings.
Put the films and indeed, film criticism, in context by attending the
free panel discussion Film Criticism: Bridging the Gap Between East and
West on Sunday, October 31 at 2 pm. This panel pairs film critics Michael
Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune and Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago
Reader with Houshang Golmakani, editor of Film International and Film
Monthly, and Nousabeh Amiri, editor of Film Report, to examine the key
differences in film criticism in the U.S. and Iran, and how these differences
impact the mutual perceptions and misperceptions these countries have of
each other. The panel is made possible by grants from Search for Common
Ground and the Illinois Humanities Council.
The Festival opens on Saturday, October 2 with Mohsen Makhmalbaf's latest
feature, the lyrical Tajikistan set drama THE SILENCE. Also screening
is THE COLOR OF PARADISE, the new film by Oscar-nominated director Majid
Majidi. Majidi will be present to discuss his work with the audience.
The COLOR OF PARADISE recently won the Grand Prize at the Montreal World
Film Festival and is about to screen in the New York Film Festival.
Week two brings films with an intensely feminine focus. Tahmineh Milani
will be here to present her prize-winning new film TWO WOMEN which contrasts
the lives of a pair of college friends. Also screening is Dariush Mehrjui's
THE LADY, a fascinating adaptation of Luis Buñuel's VIRIDIANA.
The third week brings the opportunity to see some rare and influential
pre-Revolutionary documentaries by Kamran Shirdel. Also screening is the
bittersweet love story SHEYDA, by director Kamal Tabrizi, starring Leilia
Hatami.
Directors Alireza Davodnezhad and Ebrahim Hatamikia, and actor Parviz
Parastooie will be our guests during week four. Audiences will find Davodnezhad's
SWEET AGONY totally different from anything else they have seen. Spontaneous
and frank, comic and wild, it follows the relationship of two teenagers,
betrothed in their early years, and their families, who now want to prevent
the match. Hatamikia's RED RIBBON, starring the incomparable Parviz Parastooie,
offers a stark allegory about contemporary Iran, as three stubborn characters
meet in a mine-riddled no-man's land.
The Festival draws to a close on October 30 and 31 with Iran's current
box office smash RED, an example of popular cinema which really pushes
the envelope in its examination of the position of women in Iranian society
and in its depiction of male-female relationships. Also screening is a
program of riveting new documentaries which show changes in contemporary
Iran.
Major grants for this Festival have come from Ilex Foundation, making
it possible to bring directors Majid Majidi and Ebrahim Hatamikia; from
Search for Common Ground, a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization
working to further good will between Iran and the United States through
cultural contact; the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment
for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly; and from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Schedule:
THE SILENCE (SOKHOUT)
1998, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran/France, 76 min.\
Saturday, October 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 3 at 4:15 p.m.
THE COLOR OF PARADISE (RANGHE KHODA)
1999, Majid Majidi, Iran, 81 min.
Saturday, October 2 at 7:45 p.m.
Sunday, October 3 at 6:00 p.m.
BANOO (THE LADY)
1992, Dariush Mehrjui, Iran, 113 min.
Saturday, October 9 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 10 at 3:45 p.m.
TWO WOMEN (DO ZAN)
1999, Tahmineh Milani, Iran, 95 min.
Sunday, October 9 at 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, October 10 at 6:00 p.m.
THE NIGHT IT RAINED (AN SHAB KE BARAN AMAD)
1967, Kamran Shirdel, Iran, 35 min.
THE RED DISTRICT [a.k.a. THE FORTRESS (QALEH)]
1966, Kamran Shirdel, Iran, 18 min.
WOMEN'S PRISON
1965, Kamran Shirdel, Iran, 12 min.
Saturday, October 16 at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 17 at 4:30 p.m.
SHEYDA
1999, Kamal Tabrizi, Iran, 100 min.
Saturday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 17 at 6:00 p.m.
FRIENDLY PERSUASION
1999, Jamsheed Akrami, USA, 155 min.
Sunday, October 17 at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 30 at 3:30 p.m.
SWEET AGONY (MASAEB-E SHIRIN)
1999, Alireza Davodnezhad, Iran, 90 min.
Saturday, October 23 at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 24 at 4:00 p.m.
RED RIBBON
1999, Ebrahim Hatamikia, Iran, 110 min.
Saturday, October 23 at 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m.
RED (GHERMEZ)
1999, Fareidun Jeirain, Iran, 97 min.
Saturday, October 30 at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 31 at 4:00 p.m.
New Iranian Documentaries:
DEADTIME (ZAMAN-E MORDEH)
1999, Saeed Tarazi, Iran, 12 min.
THERAN, THE 25TH HOUR (TEHRAN, SAAT-E 25)
1999, Seifollah Samadian, Iran, 22 min.
A PLACE CALLED HOME
1998, Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri, Iran, 30 min.
SILK (YOUFEK)
1999, Mahvash Sheykh-Al-Elsami, Iran, 35 in.
Saturday, October 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 31 at 6 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION
"Film Criticism: Bridging the Gap Between East and West"
Sunday, October 31 at 2:00 p.m.
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