Iranian New Wave

Photograph by Shirin Neshat “Untitled” 2006 from her Women of Allah series

My last post on filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf has motivated me to expand on the complexities of Iranian cinema, which are based upon the censorship that exists in Iran and the unique qualities of their film making practices. This post will be limited since I have not seen many Iranian films due to the lack of access to them. I will broaden the discussion beyond feminism, however it is unavoidable. Hollywood films have been banned since the revolution of 1979. Any foreign films that are feminist, secular or pro-America have been banned in Iran. Although this does not fully eradicate Iranians to have access to such films via satellite and other alternative sources. According to Wikipedia: Cinema of Iran 6 to 8 Hollywood films make it to screen, even if “in 2007 President Ahmadinejad’s media adviser told the Fars news agency, ‘We believe that the American cinema system is devoid of all culture and art and is only used as a device.’”

There are creative limitations for filmmakers in Iran, guidelines to keep in line with strict Islamic doctrines. Close-ups of women and scenes where the opposite sex touch each other sensually are banned- basically anything depicted that could arouse viewers. The prohibition of gazing at women onscreen is also a practice off screen, as well as depicting women without headscarves. Women can not sing in public in Iran, which makes me suspect that they can not onscreen either. See video below 1998/99 Turbulent by Iranian born Shirin Neshat. Women were also banned behind the directors chair, although was later relaxed. Interestingly, there are a higher number of Iranian women directors than those in the West. See an extensive list of women directors on the Cinema of Iran Wikipedia page, under the heading “Iranian Women’s Cinema”.

The Iranian Cinema’s New Wave began in 1968. According to Ahman Talebinejad, a film critic and writer, who was interviewed for the Pars Times, (a publication in Iran) that Iran’s New Wave  was influenced by Italian NeoRealism, “Films like the Bicycle Thieves or works of Fellini and de Sica that were screened in Iran changed the people’s attitudes toward society and especially toward cinema.” Earlier in the article Talebinejad mentions the emergence of three films that set the course of a new cinema in Iran, “The Cow (1969-Dariush Mehrjuyee), Qaysar (1969-Massoud Kimyayee), and Calm in Front of Others (1969- Naser Taqvaie.) It was both serious and received approval from thinkers, specialists, and intellectuals of the society, whereas before that stage, cinema had no fruit to be approved by experts, except for a couple of failed efforts. Those three films set off a trend distinct from Film Farsi (a term coined for vulgar Iranian films) which contributed to the growth and dynamic character of a truly artistic and cultural cinema.”

The cinema of Iran is uniquely their own, which possess distinguishable qualities that are unlike the French New Wave and Italian Neo-Realists. A reoccurring formal quality used in some Iranian New Wave films is reinventing the use of documentary material, like in Samira Makhmalbaf’s The Apple (1988), discussed in my last post. This practice demonstrates the influence from the Italian Neorealists, whom shot documentary style on newsreel film stock and utilized non-actors in everyday exteriors- all elements that signified realism. Iran’s films have taken this concept and developed it into a more complex and layered practice with a continued interest in social criticism. The Apple is a non-fiction piece that uses documentary material with re-enacted scenes, and many others have made quasi-documentary films. Abbas Kiarostami’s  Through the Olive Trees (1994), “focuses on one of the events in Zendegi Edame Darad (1992), and explores the relationship between the movie director, and the actors. The local actors play a couple who got married right after the earthquake. In reality, the actor is trying to persuade the actress that they should get married.” (imdb) This film within a film concept produces a layer of reflexivity (addressing the audience) and creates an awareness of ourselves as spectators. The film, Zendegi Edame Darad, that is being made in Through the Olive Trees is the space of representation, the scripted, and imagined; and the film that exists outside Zendegi Edame Darad is the ‘real.’ These tensions between the represented and the real is where the spectator discovers the constructs in which representation work in cinema while the documentary material opens up an awareness to society at large. These creative choices leave more space for introspection and reflection garnering more varied receptions from such films.

In his book Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future (2001) Hamid Dabashi describes modern Iranian cinema and the phenomenon of [Iranian] national cinema as a form of cultural modernity. According to Dabashi, “the visual possibility of seeing the historical person (as opposed to the eternal Qur’anic man) on screen is arguably the single most important event allowing Iranians access to modernity.”

It has been cited repeatedly that Iranian films have been a largely successful exporter of artistic and cultural treasures, winning many awards and recognition. Often than not, China is mentioned with Iran as another country that also has won many awards for its cinematic achievements. The perimeters of Iran and China’s censorship is similar in regard to its staunchness and some sources seems to be arguing that this makes for great cinema. Perhaps the enjoyment of watching a film is being able to have the freedom and space to reflect instead of being told what our opinions should be, and perhaps that is Iran and China’s silent protest.

Additional recommended Iranian New Wave titles:

Leila ( 1998) by Dariush Mehrjui

Taste of Cherry (1997)  by Abbas Kiarostami

10 (2002) by Abbas Kiarostami

A Moment of Innocence (1996) by Moshen Makhmalbaf

The Silence (1998) Mohsen by Makhmalbaf

The Blue Veiled (1995) by Rakhshan Bani-E’temad

Nargess (1992) by Rakhshan Bani-E’temad

Still Life (1974) by Sohrab Shahid Saless

The White Balloon (1995) by Jafar Panahi

Click on this 2007  Variety article citing rising talent in Iran.

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