TEHRAN -- Iran has plans to screen two films by Abbas Kiarostami, most of whose films have never been allowed to premiere in Iran, in the near future.

“Shirin” and “Certified Copy”, Kiarostami’s two productions that were denied a screening license by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, are due to be cleared for public screening.
“Shirin”, a movie depicting the audience’s emotional involvement with the story, finally received approval from the Culture Ministry, the Persian service of MNA quoted distributor Ramin Rahimi here on Saturday.
Rahimi added that “Certified Copy”, with slight modification in hijab of the French actress Juliette Binoche, is also due to get a public screening license.
He also said that he is going to travel to France to obtain permission for public screening of “Certified Copy” from the copyright owner in France.
“Shirin” is made from simple close-up shots of faces as they themselves watch a movie and all the people featured in the close-ups are women. Everything is angled toward a specific end, and the film they are watching is the 800-year-old Persian love story of Khosrow and Shirin.
With a brief appearance by Juliette Binoche; Mahnaz Afshar, Golshifteh Farahani, Niki Karimi and Taraneh Alidusti are among the Iranian cast members of “Shirin”.
“Certified Copy” tells the story of a British writer (William Shimell) and a French woman (Juliette Binoche) in Italy. It competed for the Palme d’Or at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, where Binoche was awarded the Best Actress Award for her outstanding performance.
The story is set in Tuscany and focuses on a French antique dealer, and spends a day with the writer, who recently had a book published about the value of replicas of art.
The couple appears to have met each other for the first time that day, but as the film progresses, it is unclear as to whether they are a married couple attempting to rekindle their relationship by pretending to be strangers, or strangers playing the part of a couple.
“Certified Copy” also shared the top Golden Spike award with Argentinean filmmaker Miguel Cohan’s “No Return” at the 2010 Valladolid Film Festival in Spain.
Photo: A poster for Abbas Kiarostami’s “Shirin” (2008)