TEHRAN – The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran will screen the 1964 political satire black comedy film “Dr. Strangelove” directed by Stanley Kubrick on Thursday.

The film screening is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Nasseri Hall of the IAF. It will be shown with Persian subtitles.

Starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character, the film satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the US.

The full name of the movie is “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” but it is simply and more commonly known as “Dr. Strangelove”. It is loosely based on the thriller novel “Red Alert” (1958) by Peter George, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern.

The cast also includes George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed among others.

The story concerns an unhinged US Air Force general who orders a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It separately follows the President (Sellers), his advisers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a Royal Air Force exchange officer (Sellers) as they attempt to prevent the crew of a B-52 (following orders from the general) from bombing the Soviet Union and starting a nuclear war.

The film is often considered one of the best comedies ever made and one of the greatest films of all time.  It received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Sellers. The film was also nominated for seven BAFTA Film Awards, winning Best Film From Any Source, Best British Film, and Best Art Direction, and it also won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Stanley Kubrick (1928 – 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. A prominent figure of the New Hollywood era, Kubrick is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers. His films spanned a number of genres and gained recognition for their attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design, and dark humor.

He made his first major Hollywood film, “The Killing,” in 1956. This was followed by two collaborations with Kirk Douglas: the anti-war film “Paths of Glory” (1957) and the historical epic “Spartacus” (1960). 

Many of Kubrick's films broke new cinematic ground and are now considered landmarks. The scientific realism and innovative special effects in his science fiction epic “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) were a first in cinema history; the film earned him his only Academy Award (for Best Visual Effects) and is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.

With the horror film “The Shining” (1980), he became one of the first directors to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots, a technology vital to his Vietnam War film “Full Metal Jacket” (1987). 

A few days after hosting a screening for his family and the stars of his final film, “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), Kubrick died at the age of 70.

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