The worth of a gem is known by its scarcity. And that gem is all but a humane heart, a heart of gold which is rare. Make yourself scarce and the worth of your presence will rise in the eyes of the public.  At least that is what we were told as we grew up the values of Old Persian sayings. Indeed, anything that is too available or too close to us is more likely to be taken for granted. Because being close does not always guarantee meaningful contact as human nature is bent on becoming very much oblivious of the obvious.  

Imagine a time when entertainment for a middle class family meant going to the cinema once a week or listening to the gramophone play music in the evenings after work. How did it taste, that anticipation of finishing one’s homework in a hurry with the promise of going to the movies in the weekend? What was the subtle flavor of that excitement of going to a concert after a long day’s work of sound and fury? I think we no longer know or remember the answers to these questions. Today film is easily available in a range of different and more convenient forms. Images emerge, pop up and pace on the internet and television. And music is just everywhere. On the radio, in the car, in our cell phones, in supermarkets, in hotel halls, in restaurants and most of it is not even music. It’s just noise. It is as though we are under constant visual and audio bombardment which has led to visual and audio pollution as redundant images and sounds crowd in the heart of our minds. 

Perhaps this is one of the many reasons as to why avid film lovers no longer find themselves in cinema halls as often as they previously did. With advent of ‘cinema khanegi’ (literally, home cinema) and availability of DVDs, even in the case new films which are fresh on the screen, cinema halls witness a decrease in their audience.  The last generation (late 80’s and early 90’s) recalls people who would enthusiastically stand in long queues to watch a new movie in the dark, even though cinema halls back then were not as equipped and modernized as they are today. To these people, the darkness of the cinema hall was an opportunity to shed some light on their views of art and culture. And if they were not interested, they felt no obligation to sit through the entire screening. 

Although there are cinema halls in Tehran that are a hub for avid film fans well versed in cinema culture, today cinema halls are more of a venue and an excuse for the youth to meet for the purpose of sheer entertainment. In fact, watching the audience that is watching or ‘not’ watching the film would surely prove to be an interesting study of human response to cinema: Brisk emotional reactions, laughter, whispers in the dark, that crunch crunch sound as hands grope to open a bag of chips and the crack of ‘tokhmeh’( sunflower seeds). Of course, the quality of silence during a film screening in a cinema hall is highly dependent on the quality of the film. It is the style and subject matter of the film that brings about the range of facial expressions and subtle body language of the audience.

Cinema is indeed a form of entertainment that demands its own rituals. It is in a way reminiscent of the primitive ritual of sitting around a fire at night, listening and watching a skilled tongue narrate a story together with the ‘others’ but each taking the thread of the tale on their own. A good film is also a good story that takes us on a mental travel and we no longer feel confined to the cinema chair but at once relevant to many different times and places. Cinema has the potential to make us lost and then found as it instantly and intensely engages us our senses as a gateway to our heart and mind.

The question now is how to reconcile professional film audience with cinema once again. It is true that art is no longer exclusive to certain sectors of the society and has long escaped the dangers of elitism as it has grown closer to and evolved into the public sphere. But another relevant question would be, at what expense? Perhaps the increasing quality of recent films on the screen would help to increase the presence of professional film viewers. A true artist would never underestimate his/her audience by simplifying everything. Sometimes it is also upon the audience to rise to the expectations of the artist. After all, this is the 21st century and hopefully, every road is a two way or a crossroad. 

One of the most significant events that followed the Islamic Revolution was Iraq’s 8 year imposed war against Iran (1980-1988) which naturally caused its very own impacts and created waves in all layers of the society, particularly in the sphere of culture. In response to certain social needs of the time, a particular genre known as ‘Holy Defense Cinema’ (Defa’ Moghadas) with the goal to portray resistance and courage of the warriors emerged which actually became the most popular genre after the revolution. Until the early 80’s, Holy Defense Cinema was a medium to depict issues revolving around the revolution, the espionage and torture during the reign of the Shah, individual and mass struggle for freedom, executions and other incidents which took place under the dictatorship of the Pahlavi dynasty. In fact, the values of revolution and the war, like sacrifice, martyrdom and struggle seemed to merge into each other in these films because both events happened within a short distance of one another. Naturally, films that were made during the first years of the war aimed at promoting resistance, defense and martyrdom and encouraging the people to stand by the values of the revolution.   Therefore it took some time for the cinema of war to release itself from the shadow of the revolution and become an independent genre that would dedicate itself to delineation of the individual and social downsides of the war. But one must not mistake Cinema of Holy Defense with the cinema of war. To quote the late Morteza Avini, a prolific film maker of this genre who lost his life for his work and is considered a martyr of the war, “If our war was the same as any other in this century, then I would have been among the first to make antiwar films”. Firstly, soldiers of the Iran-Iraq war were motivated to defend their land as men of God and righteousness. Secondly, in the public eye, even among people who stayed home and did not go to the war front, soldiers were regarded as respectable and spiritual individuals who would willingly sacrifice their lives to protect their motherland and Islamic ideals. In fact, films produced mid war started to generate a more spiritual outlook to warfare from moral point of view. Character portrayal also became more realistic and the Holy Defense Cinema succeeded in distancing itself from accentuated and dramatic screening of its values. Some of the major film makers of this genre were old soldiers of the war whose every aspect of life was and to this day is still under the influence of the war and its aftermath.  The issue of veterans and their struggle to continue a normal existence after returning home was and still is a challenging subject matter of films. Most movies that were produced after the 90’s tried to get closer to the language of the youth (the new generation) and their lifestyle, sometimes critical of the present conditions and at times aimed at instilment and support of a return of values. In order to make the genre more appealing to all sectors of the society, some producers began to integrate the element of humor and melodrama into their films. This initiative caused a stir in filmmakers and critics who were of a different opinion and considered the sacrifice of the sacred values of the war and the revolution at the total cost of humor and comicality as despicable. Therefore some experts opined that perhaps the best films of the Holy Defense Cinema were made during the early stages and middle period of the war. Some of the notable filmmakers of this genre are the late Rasoul Molagholipour, Ebrahim Hatamikiya, Kamal Tabrizi and Ahmad Reza Darvish among others.

Sedigheh Saminejad better known as Roohangiz was the first actress of Iranian cinema who began her career by starring in the first sound movie, Lor Girl in 1932. After that the road for Iranian women in cinema was paved gradually as they began to grow and evolve both in terms of character and their contribution in the film industry. Before the revolution the image of women in movies was mostly unrealistic and based on the taste of the average audience. Just a glance at the titles of the films is enough to give us a hint about the general image of women during this period. Mostly known as Film Farsi, these movies which rarely centered on a female character or her story, never aimed at a sincere depiction of women. In these films, the social presence of women was not a positive one and their roles were defined ‘for’ their male counterparts. In a few films that tried to deliver a more positive and ‘clean’ image,  women were shown as socially isolated individuals who stayed safe and unchallenged because they would never  get out of the house and if they did, they were always accompanied by a male. Perhaps there are few who would disagree that the female image evolved and grew richer in films that were made after 1979. The advent of Islamic rules opened relatively safe but challengeable spaces in the realm of politics, economics, academics and other social spheres, particularly among families who did not live in the capital and held more traditionally religious views about employment and education of their daughters. A more poignant presence of women in the Arts was not an exception to this change. The 1980’s were witness to the advent of the social and meaningful presence of women in Iranian cinema. Women experienced a reversal of roles on the screen; suddenly they were political activists, even warriors who defended their land and family. Although, critics eyed these changes with appreciative eyes that told of a progressive trend in the film industry, such transformations did not seem enough. Now, there were higher expectations and the bar for the success of women was raised. It was during the 80’s that major women filmmakers emerged but interestingly even these women did not center their films on women and preferred to tackle social issues of their time and questions regarding the situation of children like those involved in a divorce. Women were still positioned in melodramas and in films of the war; their roles were rarely accentuated in comparison to the males because they were mostly portrayed as dependent on a man or emotionally linked to him. This was, of course, a reflection of the situation during the war. With the end of the war as a significant social phenomenon, the early 1990’s gave many filmmakers the opportunity to delineate other aspects of Iranian women’s life and their social status. Now, women played major roles and were no longer in the background in war films that were produced during this era.  Also their social prestige on the screen expanded and women enacted the role of female doctors, lawyers and university professors. Stories that evolved around the individual and social challenges of women became a rising trend. Tahmineh Milani, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Maryam Keshavarz, Pouran Derakhshandeh and Mona Zandi-Haghighi are among many notable Iranian women directors.

Camera was first used in Iran to register everyday events in 1900 by Mirza Agha Khan who was later known as the first documentary film in the country’s cinematic history. Documentary filmmaking in Iran has also been inspired by the universal principles of this genre and has tackled issues like stream of consciousness, self-expression, reconstruction of actual events and projection of our emotional grasp of the world around us.  Iranian documentary cinema, however, can be roughly categorized into three groups: Pure documentary, Recreation of Events and Narrative. In the early 1960’s, films with social issues bent towards extreme realism which at times became heavy for the audience. But by the end of the decade, documentary and research films took a different turn when a younger generation of directors began to integrate poetry, philosophy and literature into the format of their films in order to depict social and cultural values and ideals of the nation. During the revolution and the war, films became a platform of expression for the change of the very same ideals and values. The Victory Bridge, The Truth, Karbala 5, and the Narrative Victory by Morteza Avini are among the notable documentary series that depicted the war Cinéma vérité style.  If before the early 1980’s, documentary filmmaking was screened in cinema and public halls, the range of its audience now moved to film associations, cultural houses and gradually exclusive to only certain  channels and timings on the television. Presently Azadi Cinema Hall in Tehran is the popular hangout for documentary film lovers where latest movies are screened. Also channel four on the television broadcasts weekly documentary movies with notable critics and scholars in a program known as ‘Documentary 4’. Mohammad Reza Aslani, Mehrdad Oskouei, Bahman Kiarostami, Mohammad Shirvani and Mahnaz Afzali are among well-known documentary filmmakers.  

1- Cinema was only five years old when it first came to Iran. The first cinematograph came to Iran during the reign of Mozaffareddin Shah in the year 1900, mainly for his private entertainment. However, no movies were made until 1929.

2- In 1930 the first Iranian silent Film was made by Professor Ovanes Ohanian who also founded the “The Cinema Artist Educational Centre” (Parvareshgah-e Artistiy-e Cinema), the first film school in Iran. 

3-  The first sound movie ‘Lor Girl’ (1932) was directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta. 

4- The first public cinema hall, however, was not built until 1904. Until the early 1930s, there were little more than 15 theatres in Tehran and 11 in other provinces.

5- The 1960s was a significant decade for Iranian cinema, with 25 commercial films produced annually on average throughout the early ‘60’s, increasing to 65 by the end of the decade. The majority of production focused on melodrama and thrillers.

6- The movie that really boosted the economy of Iranian cinema and initiated a new genre was Ganj-e-Qarun (Croesus Treasure), made in 1965 by Siamak Yasami. Four years later Masud Kimiaie made Kaiser, which generated another genre in Iranian popular cinema: the tragic action drama. It is also believed that the ‘new wave’ of Iranian cinema actually emerged in 1969 with The Cow, a film directed by Daryush Mehrjui, written by Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi based on his own play and novel.

7- Fajr Film Festival was founded in 1983. Since 1990, there has been an international along with the national competition. The festival also features a competition for advertisement items like posters, stills and trailers. In 2005, the festival added competitions for Asian as well as spiritual films. The top prize is called Crystal Simorgh.

8- The National Museum of Cinema was founded in 1994 in Tehran.  The museum treasures pictures, scenarios, cinematic notices, video films, documents, mass media leaflets and publications, costumes and all things related to film and cinema. 

 

Known as the David Copperfield of Iran and still in his early twenties, Aref Ghafouri managed to capture the undivided attention of the audience through a mesmerizing performance in Turkey’s Got Talent, a weekly show broadcasted on one of the television channels of Turkey. From breaking a steel spoon by his gaze and bending another one, allegedly with the power of his mind to shaping cards in the form of celebrities whom he had asked the audience to think about, Aref gained the surprised approval of the audience and the judges in a span of a short time. But his most astounding performance came when he asked an old lady from the audience to take his pulse and tap into the microphone each time she felt a beat and then he managed to stop his own pulse for a few seconds. He won the second prize of 250,000 Lira. Aref who is originally from Urumiyeh city, capital of West Azerbaijan province, started learning magic when he was 11 years old. He is presently a university student in Turkey.