Iran Through the Lens

Related Content

• "No One Knows About Persian Cats," Tehran's underground music scene
  April 21, 2010
• No One Knows About Persian Cats
  April 21, 2010
• Lars von Trier's Antichrist can't save this year's Cannes
  May 27, 2009
• In Saddam's Shadow
  April 13, 2005
• Reps Etc.
  April 13, 2005

More About

• Samira Makhmalbaf
• Mark Cousins
• Bahman Ghobadi
• Documentaries
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Kaurismaki, Kusturica, Kiarostami: These are directors to live by at the moment. The last of the three is profiled at the Iranian Film Festival in two documentaries by Irish director Mark Cousins: all by himself in On the Road with Kiarostami, and in Cinema Iran alongside his peers, the people responsible for a massive uprising of talent visible over Iran's last couple of decades. These peers include our favorite Iranian filmmakers, the father-daughter team of Mohsen and Samira Makhmalbaf, responsible for The Bicyclist and The Blackboard, respectively. Elsewhere at the festival, find Muslim stand-up comedy, a documentary about international women filmmakers, and Alireza Ghanie's Lesson from Bam, a feature about children in the aftermath of a huge earthquake. We can't help but think of Bahman Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly, although Bam is probably not as Greek-tragedy-level depressing as all that. The starkly pretty Iranian countryside stars in both films and many others from this rich national scene.
Sept. 27-28, 11 a.m., 2008