TEHRAN – Cineteatro Sao Luiz in Brazil is paying tribute to Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami and Spanish director Carlos Saura in a program entitled “Cinema Profile - Kiarostami and Saura”.

The 12-day program screening a number of films by world-renowned filmmakers started on June 13 at the major theater and cultural center in Sao Luiz.   

Several screenings have been arranged for each of Kiarostami’s feature films “The Experience” “The Traveler”, “Where Is My Friend’s House?” and “And Life Goes On”.

“The Experience” was released in 1973. It depicts the hard daily life of a young man working in a photo shop while trying to get closer to the girl he likes.

“The Experience” came the following year. It tells the story of a grade-school-age boy who has been neglected by his parents. He lies, cheats and steals to accumulate enough money to afford a bus ride to a large city and a ticket to see his favorite soccer team play.

“Where Is the Friend’s House?” was Kiarostami’s first film to gain major international attention. It won the Bronze Leopard at the 1989 Locarno Film Festival, and the Golden Simorgh at the Fajr Film Festival.

The film is about eight-year-old Ahmed, who has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad’s notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad’s home in the neighboring village.

“And Life Goes On” follows a director and his son who return to a region damaged by the Gilan earthquake, hoping to find the children who appeared in his film a few years earlier.

Cineteatro is also reviewing a collection of Kiarostami’s shorts, including “The Bread and Alley”, “With or Without Order” and “Solution Number One”.

In “The Bread and Alley”, a child carrying a loaf of bread is going home but in the alley on his way home, there is a frightening dog and he doesn’t seem to pass by it alone.

“With or Without Order” shows that a sense of order is the guarantee for good social organization. To prove this axiom, Kiarostami offers a series of dual vignettes. The same action is first shown as a well-organized event, then as a chaotic affair. Yet the crew themselves have trouble organizing chaos!

“Solution Number One” is a short study of self-reliance. Alone on a wintry mountain road, a man seeks help from passersby, to carry his car tire to his car which is parked some distance away. Several cars pass by but none stop to offer help. He decides to roll it to his car.

His “The Playground” and “The Choir” will also be screened.

In addition, Cineteatro has arranged screenings for Saura’s films “Cousin Angélica”, “Peppermint Frappe”, “Ana and the Wolves”, “Hurry, Hurry” and “Create Cuervos”.

Photo: Babak Ahmadpur in “Where Is My Friend’s House?”.

MMS/YAW