Educational Media Reviews Online

Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution, originally produced in French, traces the inexorable relationship between Iran’s film history and its political history. Through interviews with Iranian filmmakers, film critics, government and film industry executives it puts forth a broad perspective on the development of cinema in Iran.

The end credits list titles of about 60 films excerpted in this documentary, although the majority are seen for only a few seconds, and only a handful are on the screen long enough to provide a sense of some of the aesthetic qualities alluded to in the interviews. Much of the archival footage in support of the historical events is uncredited, and probably because of the state of moving image archival preservation, is deteriorating. This documentary does not try to document the cultural ramifications of the importation of films from Western Europe and the United States at the turn of the 20th century, nor does it examine the establishment of the first public/commercial cinemas, or deal, more than in passing, with the period before the late 1950s. The film instead begins with an overview of Resa Shah and his modernization of Iran in the 1920s and goes on to name Hadji Agha, the Cinema Actor a film directed by Avanes Ohanian from 1932 as the first Iranian feature film. Ohanian, an Armenian-Iranian, actually first directed Abi va Rabi in 1930, and it was a silent black and white feature comedy about the adventures of a tall man and a short man.

The modern era of Iranian film (post-1960) is well documented. Farrokh Ghafari’s South of the City (1958) realistically and critically depicted a poverty-stricken underclass district in Teheran only to find his film banned. At the end of the 1960s, the Iranian film industry, which had been producing low quality, superficial, sexist films, was suddenly jolted by the success of Gheyssar (1969), Massud Kimiai’s polished anti-hero vigilante film. It was a critical and box office success that led to the Iranian New Wave with films like Dariush Mehrjui’s The Cow (1969).

During the revolution, prior to the Shah’s exile and the re-appearance of Ayotollah Khomeini, cinema was demonized and this persisted into the 1980s. Political consolidation thus entailed cultural consolidation. A number of filmmakers persevered and refused to make films under the Islamic conditions allowed. Despite the enforcement, a number of films emerged that put Iran on the international map: The Little Stranger and The Runner both from 1985 and directors like Abbas Kiarastami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf were given numerous accolades.

Recent history has shown that political will and social stability just like economic health are rather fragile commodities in Iran and naturally this instability affects Iranian culture. This documentary unfortunately leaves off on a vague note much like its focus throughout. However, the fact that it features interviews with well-known and historically significant filmmakers is important enough to recommend it for libraries with media studies or film studies collections.