The Films of Amir Naderi and Iranian Cinema: New Directors, New Directions Sept 10 - 23, 2001 photo: water, wind, dust

See information about our box office sales here. | film descriptions and times | about the films of amir naderi | about iranian cinema: new directors, new directions | The Films of Amir Naderi We regret to announce that the Film Society and Columbia University have decided to cancel the conference on Iranian cinema scheduled for this weekend, as so many of the announced participants are unable to attend. We hope to re-schedule this conference for some time in the future. Please check future Walter Reade Theater programs for updates. A key figure of the pre-1979 Iranian cinema, Amir Naderi helped focus international interest on new Iranian film with the release of THE RUNNER and WATER, WIND, DUST in the mid-1980s. Now based in New York, Naderi has since made two films, MANHATTAN BY NUMBERS and A,B,C.... MANHATTAN, which bring the same raw, visceral quality that distinguished his Iranian work to contemporary American urban life and landscapes. This near-complete retrospective will include key works from all periods thus far of this remarkable filmmaker's career. Born in the port city of Abadan in 1945, Naderi was orphaned at an early age and spent much of his childhood and teenage years on the streets, doing everything from shining shoes to selling ice - a part of his life frequently evoked in his later film work. Moving to Tehran, Naderi eventually got a job as a still photographer. It was a fertile moment for Iranian cinema; Mehrjui's The Cow had been internationally acclaimed, and a number of directors - Abbas Kiarostami, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Parviz Kimiavi - were about to embark on their first features. Naderi made his own directorial debut at 25 with Goodbye, Friend in 1972, and quickly followed it with DEADLOCK; especially this second film, with its gritty, unsentimental look at city life, marked Naderi as one of the most important emerging talents. As in all of Naderi's films, the physical elements become major themes in and of themselves - one can actually feel a Naderi film. His protagonists, often very young men or even boys, find themselves cut adrift, forced to improvise action and determine new directions to take; many of his films seem virtually plotless, as they often simply introduce a state of affairs and then link together various incidents which emerge out of it. As deeply personal as they are highly accomplished, the films of Amir Naderi also provide a fascinating bridge between pre- and post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema. This series was organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with the collaboration of the National Film Archive of Iran and the Farabi Cinema Foundation. Very special thanks to Mohammad Khoshneviss and Fereydoun Khameneipour for making this series possible. Thanks also to Amir Esfandiari, Jamsheed Akrami, Bahman Maghsoudlou, Ali Mortazavi, Jason Kliot and especially Amir Naderi. "Amir Naderi and I started our film careers on the same film in 1968; he was the still photographer, and I the title designer. Amir later played a key role in the emergence of a new Iranian cinema. We miss him in Iran. I hope our loss will be a gain for American cinema. " - Abbas Kiarostami "My generation is indebted to a previous generation of Iranian filmmakers who brought new visions to Iranian cinema. Their films taught us how to see realities at a time when we were just learning to appreciate films. Amir Naderi had a big part in our education, especially since he also showed us how to stand on our feet and persevere." - Jafar Panahi "Amir Naderi is one of the most instinctive, self-taught, poetic, and visually expressive Iranian filmmakers. He will always remain a true master and one of the founders of Iranian cinema for me. Although he has been living in self-exile for years, even the Iranian back-alleys are still haunted by the strong spirit of his cinema. He did not learn from us; he taught himself, and he taught us cinema with his cinema. Long live the majesty and poetry of his images." - Mohsen Makhmalbaf Iranian Cinema: New Directors, New Directions Simultaneously with our retrospective of Amir Naderi, we are offering this celebration of the achievements of a rising generation of Iranian filmmakers who started their careers in the last ten years. Some of these filmmakers, such as Majid Majidi, whose Children of Heaven was the first Iranian film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, and Jafar Panahi, who won the Golden Lion for The Circle at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, are internationally known. Others are not even well known in Iran. Yet collectively, they promise to be the filmmakers carrying on the fine cinematic traditions established by the Iranian masters such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Dariush Mehrjui, Amir Naderi and Bahram Bayzai. The steady stream of international prizes for Iranian films, including several best first film awards at prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Montreal, Pusan, and Chicago, provides further evidence that Iran continues to be one of the great reservoirs of fresh filmmaking talent in world cinema today. New Directors, New Directions showcases the work of the mostly unknown filmmakers who have attempted to chart new thematic and stylistic territories. The series' curator is film professor Jamsheed Akrami, whose two documentaries Dreams Betrayed and Friendly Persuasion chronicle the development of Iranian cinema before and after the 1979 revolution. Dr. Akrami has also been a constant collaborator on other Iranian film series presented at the Walter Reade Theater. Special thanks to: Amir Esfandiari and Reza Tashakori of Farabi Cinema Foundation, Mohammad Atebbai of Iranian Independents, Alireza Shahrokhi of CMI, Hussain Amarshi of Mongrelmedia, and Facets Multimedia.

Complete film descriptions and times (the films of Amir Naderi are notated with a bullet): Please Note: We have had to make certain schedule changes: below is the corrected schedule. You can also view specific updates here. We apologize for any inconvenience. HARMONICA / SAZE DAHANI Amir Naderi, Iran, 1974; 75m (projected subtitles) Childhood is an important theme in Naderi's work; indeed, many of his protagonists are young people. It's a time of wonder and enchantment tempered by rites of passage and, sometimes, bitter disillusionment. Set on the sun-drenched southern coast of Iran, from which Naderi hails, Harmonica begins as a young boy receives a musical present from abroad. Fascinated and envious, his friends make him the leader of the pack, as they compete for the privilege of holding the harmonica or even blowing a few notes. No one is more obsessed than Amiroo, gentle and heavy-set, who seems willing to do anything to get close to the harmonica and its owner. Few films have more powerfully depicted the cruelty that is also part of childhood, as games and horseplay take on an increasingly sinister edge. Preceded by WAITING Amir Naderi, Iran, 1975; 43m Print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Iran One of Naderi's most beautiful films, a kind of magical realist parable that follows a boy's daily chore: bringing an elegant glass bowl to get filled with ice, and then returning home. The simplicity of this ritual stands in contrast to a world in which every glance and every gesture seems loaded with hidden meaning. Mon Sept 10: 1 & 8:15; Tue Sept 11: 3; Thu Sept 20: 8:15

the runner one more day the unfinished song daughters of the sun still life going by red water wind dust manhattan by numbers abc manhattan

TANGSIR Amir Naderi, Iran; 1973; 112m Print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Iran This rare pre-revolutionary epic based on a well-known novel of the same name by Sadegh Chooback, about a wronged man seeking revenge, features Behrooz Vosooghi in another incarnation of his well-established screen persona. This was a noticeable departure for director Amir Naderi, who had gained a reputation for his smaller film-noir-style "street films." Naderi's inspiration for making the film was one of his childhood heroes, the legendary Zar Mohammad, who waged a one-man war against four swindlers and provoked wide spread popular sentiment against tyranny. While following Chooback's novel, Naderi researched the real story, interviewed some of the eyewitnesses, and tried to re-enact the scenes in as many of the real locations as he could. The film's color cinematography, exotic locations, and the assured presence of Vosooghi leading a cast of veteran film and stage actors are among its assets. However, Naderi was criticized for not staying faithful enough to the source material and paying more attention to building set-pieces than fleshing out the characters. Naderi's response? He vowed to never make another film adaptation! - Jamsheed Akrami Mon Sept 10: 3:30; Wed Sept 12: 1 Thurs Sept 13: 8:30 THE RUNNER / DAVANDEH Amir Naderi, Iran, 1985; 94m Naderi's greatest international success, THE RUNNER - along with Kiarostami's Where Is the Friend's House - was the film that ignited interest in the post-revolutionary Iranian cinema. Returning to the southern coastal region of Iran of both his youth and earlier films such as Waiting and Harmonica, Naderi tells the story of a young orphan, Amiroo (Madjid Niroumand), who lives in an abandoned ship. He works odd jobs collecting bottles and shining shoes, and even drops into school for a spell. But what seems to fill Amiroo's life with beauty and purpose is running - simply running, heading off into the distance without any purpose or destination. As in all of Naderi's films, the physical elements become major themes in and of themselves, but what gives THE RUNNER such special power is his conception of the character of Amiroo. Wise beyond his years, Amiroo is a survivor whose barely containable energy and exuberance constantly reminds us of the tremendous potential of this young man that will never be fulfilled. Mon Sept 10: 6; Fri Sept 14: 9 Sat Sept 15: 8:15; Mon Sept 17: 1 & 5 DEADLOCK / TANGNA Amir Naderi, Iran, 1973; 88m Print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Iran Naderi's second film, and the first to show signs of his mature style, is set in the slums of Tehran. Hanging out in a pool hall, Ali Khoshdast becomes involved in a brawl with three brothers, and accidently kills one of them. He runs for his life, eventually taking refuge in the home of a young woman. The victim's brothers continue the chase, and finally close in on him. Using a remarkable economy of means, Naderi creates an extraordinary sense of displacement; following the murder, streets, alleys and houses that were all part of Ali's everyday world suddenly become dangerous and hostile. Although in many ways a classic tale of revenge, Naderi uses this story to imply that an underlying violence pervades society, ready to burst forth with or without justification. DEADLOCk very much marked Naderi as one of the talents to watch in what was then being called the Iranian New Wave. Tue Sept 11: 1; Wed Sept 12: 5:15 & 9; Thu Sept 20: 6:15; Sun Sept 23: 7:15 ONE MORE DAY / YEK ROOZ BISHTAR Babak Payami, Iran, 2000; 75m A quiet, undeclared relationship gradually develops between a man and a woman who see each other every morning at a bus stop. Babak Payami's feature introduces a filmmaker of promise with a stylistic touch worthy of the late Iranian master Sohrab Shahid Saless (STILL LIFE). By isolating his characters against the bustling backdrop of Tehran streets and its crowded, segregated buses, Payami makes a restrained but effective commentary on the segregation of sexes in an emotionally besieged society. Born in 1966 in Tehran, Babak Payami studied cinema at the University of Toronto, and made a number of shorts and documentaries before ONE MORE DAY, which represented Iran at 2000 Berlin Film Festival. Wed Sept 12: 3:30 & 7:15; Sat Sept 22: 3 REQUIEM / MARSEYEH Amir Naderi, Iran, 1978, video; 107m A personal favorite of Naderi's among his own works, REQUIEM begins as Nasrollah, just released from prison, returns home to discover that his mother has died while he was incarcerated. Nasrollah hits the streets looking for work, but finding none he resumes his previous life as a street peddler. Casting his lot with two other peddlers, with whom he becomes roommates, for a while Nasrollah seems to achieve once again a sense of community and belonging. The influence of Italian neorealism on Iranian cinema in general and Naderi's work in particular has often been noted, yet Requiem seems less a kind of social action film than a hard, sober look at the everyday mechanisms of survival common to the urban poor. The film features a brilliant use of urban landscapes, as the city itself becomes another character in the drama. Thurs Sept 13: 2 & 6:15 DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN / DOKHTARAN-E KHORSHEED Mariam Shahriar, Iran, 2000; 90m Financial destitution forces a father to shave his daughter's head and send her away, disguised as a young man, to work at a small carpet factory. Far from home, the lonely protagonist has to endure the cruel behavior of her boss and the romantic attention of a female co-worker. Mariam Shahriar's sensitive direction won her the best first film award in the 2000 Montreal Film Festival. She successfully creates a cold and lifeless milieu in which repressed emotions of the characters are examined within the context of their deprived lives. Born in 1966 in Tehran, Mariam Shahriar studied film at the University of California and Italian culture at the American University in Rome, where she worked as an assistant director and editor. She made several short films abroad before directing DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN in Iran. Thurs Sept 13: 4:15; Sat Sept 22: 1 THE SEARCH / DJOSTODJOU Amir Naderi, Iran, 1982; 85m Print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Iran; no subtitles; simultaneous translation It all began with "Black Friday" - a massacre on Sept 8, 1978, by the Shah's police. Official pronouncements put the death toll at 200, but the next day the people of Teheran witnessed how thousands of bodies were brought to Behast Zahra cemetery. Yet even this wasn't the whole extent of the tragedy. As the families continued looking for their relatives they began to realize just how many had disappeared. Over the next few months the massacres continued, with many thousands more disappearing, until February 11th, 1979, victory day for the Revolution. Naderi's film follows this search for the missing, through which the terrible truth is gradually revealed. The film is not only a documentary but also a document of a horrible crime. - Berlin Forum of Young Film (1981) Fri Sept 14: 1; Mon Sept 17: 9 Sun Sept 23: 1 THE UNFINISHED SONG / GHAT'EH NATAMAM Maziar Miri, Iran, 2001; 93m A young musicologist travels to his birthplace in Khorasan in the northeastern part of Iran to record the increasingly rare folk songs by women. He is particularly interested in finding a mysterious woman with an unfinished song. This highly absorbing first feature by Maziar Miri ran into difficulties with the censors for its thematic focus on solo female voice, which is officially banned in Iranian media. Miri uses a documentary approach in detailing the young researcher's long journey and his nostalgia for a folk music on the verge of extinction. Ghogha Bayat, a professional still photographer, makes an indelible impression as Heyran, the enigmatic lost singer, in the film's penetrating finale. Born in 1971 in Tehran, Miri is a graduate of the College of Sound and Sight in Tehran. He directed several documentaries, shorts, and television series before making his feature debut. Fri Sept 14: 3 & 7; Sat Sept 22: 5 STILL LIFE / TABI'AT-E BIJAAN Sohrab Shahid Saless, Iran, 1974; 90m; French subtitles; simultaneous translation Print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Iran A few times a day, an aging guard at a lonely railroad crossing changes the signals for the onrushing trains. It's a monotonously quiet life he shares with his wife, but one that at least seems secure. One day he is asked to retire; delicately, the film chronicles the efforts of a man trying to leave the only world he's ever really known. Always included on lists of the greatest Iranian films ever made, STILL LIFE proved to be a turning point in the Iranian cinema of the 1970s. Winner of numerous prizes at the 1974 Berlin Film Festival, including the Silver Bear for Best Director, STILL LIFE was requested by Amir Naderi to be included in this series as a tribute to his late friend, director Sohrab Shahid Saless; this print has been beautifully restored by the National Film Archive of Iran. Fri Sept 14: 5; Sun Sept 23: 5:15 GOING BY / AZ KENAR-E HAM MIGOZARIM Iraj Karimi, Iran, 2001; 88m The film follows one day in the lives of an assortment of characters in four cars as they are traveling from Tehran to the northern parts of Iran on the same road. They don't know each other, and their destinies may be as different as their destinations. While staying within the conventions of a road movie, Karimi successfully adds a metaphorical dimension to the day-long journey of its characters. In an apparent nod to Kiarostami, the road is employed as a device for meditating on the larger issues of life and death. Born in 1953 in Tehran, Iraj Karimi studied mechanical engineering at Iran's Polytechnic College. He started his film career by making short films, continued as a film critic, and wrote one of the first books on Kiarostami in Farsi. After more than ten shorts, GOING BY is his first feature. Sat Sept 15: 6; Fri Sept 21: 3 & 7 RED / GHERMEZ Fereydoun Geyrani, Iran, 2000; 90m An oppressed woman fighting her abusive husband loses all hope in the ability of the social and legal system to protect her, and decides to take matters into her own hands. Hedyeh Tehrani's strong performance as a woman trapped in an infernal marriage struck a chord with Iranian audiences and placed this engaging melodrama at the top of the box-office charts. Mohammad Reza Foroutan, as the intensely jealous husband, creates a character even more menacing than the vengeful rogue he portrayed in Two Women. Born in 1951 in Kashmar, Fereydoun Geyrani is a former writer and film critic whose third and most recent film, Water and Fire, is about a call girl and her stormy relationships with two men. Mon Sept 17: 3 & 7; Sat Sept 22: 7 WATER, WIND, DUST / AB, BAD, KHAK Amir Naderi, Iran, 1989; 94m The inhabitants of a distant region in the south of Iran are hit by a disastrously prolonged drought. Their condition worsens as water becomes scarce and their animals begin to die. A young boy from the region returns to the area only to find that his family, like so many others, has fled. The collective drama of the community is accentuated by the lone protagonist's frantic efforts to find his missing relatives. However, the real protagonists of Naderi's masterpiece are, as the title implies, the natural elements. Filmed entirely in a desert, often during ranging sandstorms, WATER, WIND, DUST has an extraordinarily visceral impact, dominated by howling winds, rushing sands and searing sunlight. Naderi uses the elements to convey both the community's - and our - endless struggle for survival in a world that seems less hostile than merely indifferent to human needs. Tue Sept 18: 1; Wed Sept 19: 3 & 7 MANHATTAN BY NUMBERS Amir Naderi, USA, 1992; 88m Naderi's first film made after settling in New York, MANHATTAN BY NUMBERS is the story of George Murphy (John Wojda), a laid-off newspaperman who has 24 hours to come up with the back rent he owes or be put out in the street. Desperately, he sets out to find an old friend who might help, yet when he discovers that his old friend has seemingly disappeared, George's search begins to take on a whole different meaning. Naderi here creates a searing portrait of Manhattan in the '90s, a deeply troubling look at a world as harsh and uncaring of human concerns as the desert landscapes so powerfully captured in WATER, WIND, DUST; the film features a wonderful jazz score by jazz great Gato Barbieri. - New Directors/New Films 1993 Tue Sept 18: 3; Wed Sept 19: 1, 5 & 9 A, B, C....MANHATTAN Amir Naderi, USA, 1997; 90m Premiered at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Naderi's most recent film focuses on three women whose lives intersect on the streets of New York's Alphabet City. Colleen is a photographer struggling to create art and make a living while raising a daughter on her own. Kacey has lost both her girlfriend and her boyfriend but really wants to find her dog. Kate knows that it's time to break up with her boyfriend, but is waiting for the right moment to talk with him. Together, their lives form a portrait of a generation living with the fallout of failed expectations and trying to figure out what's next. Once again, Naderi's camera captures the sights and sounds of New York like no one else can. Tues Sept 18: 5 & 9; Sat Sept 22: 9 HEMLOCK / SHOWKARAN Behrooz Afkhami, Iran, 2001; 86m A lonely, emotionally unstable nurse falls in love with a happily married factory manager and agrees to enter into a temporary marriage with him. An Islamic Fatal Attraction, with a top-notch cast and a fluid pace much faster than the typical Iranian art-house films, the film provides a rare glimpse into the lifestyle of the Iranian middle class and its suppressed sexual tensions. The highest-grossing film in Iran last year, this cunning melodrama also drew the wrath of the Iranian nurses who decided the female lead, played by Hedyeh Tehrani in a star-making role, was too liberated for their profession. Born in 1956 in Tehran, Afkhami studied editing at the College of Sound and Sight and directed his first film, The Bride, in 1991. In 1999, he was elected to the Majless in a landslide victory that swept the reformists into the Iranian parliament. Tues Sept 18: 7:30; Thurs Sept 20: 3:50; Fri Sept 21: 5 TO HAVE OR NOT TO HAVE / DASHTAN VA NADASHTAN Niki Karimi, Iran, 2001, video; 52m This documentary, marking the directorial debut of the acclaimed Iranian actress Niki Karimi, deals with the problems of childless couples in a traditional society where infertility could be a serious threat to a marriage. Abbas Kiarostami produced the film. Preceded by TABAKI Bahman Kiarostami, Iran, 2001, video; 28m After a promising debut with A Trip to the Traveller's Land (1974), about the child actor of Kiarostami's Traveller some 20 years later, Bahman Kiarostami (younger son of Abbas) makes an impressive return with this charming documentary about professional mourners in Iran. In an understated fashion, the film speaks volumes not only about a peculiar profession in a religious society, but about that society itself. Fri Sept 21: 1 & 9:15; Sun Sept 23: 3:15 | film descriptions and times | about the films of amir naderi | about iranian cinema: new directors, new directions | Email this web page to a friend! Enter the recipient's e-mail address: