It was not until 1960s, however, that the first signs of a distinctive Iranian cinematic language emerged, anticipating the style that became so famous later. Poet Forough Farrokhzad's 1962 film The House is Black – of life in a leper colony – anticipated much of what was to come in the '80s and '90s. Darius Mehrjui's 1969 film The Cow, based on a story by modern playwright Gholamhossien Sa'edi, was the period's most important landmark film. Sohrab Shahid Sales's early 1970s films such as Still Life introduced a new way of looking at reality, the influence of his still camera and slow, simple stories can be seen in Kiarostami and Makhmalbaf's work.
The first 'new wave' of Iranian cinema is marked by the work of those that first captured the attention of art-house movie fans all over the world: Abbas Kiarostami, Dariush Mehrjui and Bahram Beiza'I, Khosrow Haritash and Bahram Farmanara. The post-revolutionary directors, such as Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Rakhshan Bani Etemad and Jafar Panahi have helped develop a reputation for Iranian cinema as art house, neo-realist and poetic – the second 'new wave'. Arguably, film-makers such as Kiarostami are continuing the great tradition of Persian poetry, albeit in a visual medium. The strict censorship of the post-Revolutionary state has encouraged use of children, non-professional actors and stories that are fixated on the nitty gritty of life. This has all proved hugely popular overseas.
While Iranians have finally learned to love their own cinema (though it took a revolutionary ban on Hollywood movies first) and flock to it in droves, many of these 'art-house' film never get a release in Iran, though the bootleg market fills this gap. Recently there has been a feeling that the masters are making movies specifically for foreign markets and film festivals.
A lot of Iranian films are churned out every year for the domestic market, most of them action flicks. There are, however, signs of improvement here too, with social issues increasingly taking centre stage: at the recent Fajr Film Festival in 2004, the most popular film was The Lizard (Marmulak) by Kamal Tabrizi. The comic story of a convict who impersonates a mullah while trying to arrange his illegal escape from the country had people queuing round the block. It is remarkable that such controversial subjects are being overtly approached – and approved by the censor. Another noteworthy film shown at the festival was Duel directed by Ahmadreza Darvish. The most expensive film in the history of Iranian cinema, it is remarkable because, for the first time since the Revolution, a war movie makes no ostentatious show of the values of martyrdom and sacrifice.
The Makhmalbaf Family
Born in 1957 in Tehran, Mohsen Makhmalbaf first gained infamy when he was imprisoned for five years after fighting with a policeman. He was released during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and started to write books before turning to film-making in 1982. Since then he has produced more than a dozen films, including Boycott, Time for Love, Gabbeh and, more provocatively, Salaam Cinema. Many of these films are based on taboo subjects: Time for Love was filmed in Turkey because it broached the topic of adultery; and Marriage of the Blessed was a brutal film about the casualties of the Iran-Iraq War.
Although Makhmalbaf refuses to follow the strict Islamic guidelines for local film-making, he enjoys comparative artistic freedom because he is so well known. In 1997 Makhmalbaf's daughter Samira produced her first film The Apple to critical acclaim. In 2000 her second film Blackboards was a smash hit at the Cannes Film Festival; she was the youngest director ever to have shown a film there. Her latest film Five in the Afternoon is set in Afghanistan.
The Makhmalbaf movie factory continues to churn out winners. Samira's younger brother made a 'making-of' documentary about Blackboards; then younger sister Hana directed a feature about the shooting of At Five in the Afternoon. On the strength of that film, Joy of Madness, Hana beat Samira to a 'youngest-ever' record by being invited to the Venice Film Festival at the age of 14. Even Mohsen Makhmalbaf's second wife (the sister of his first wife who died tragically) Marzieh Meshkini has directed an acclaimed film, The Day I Became A Woman.
© Kamin Mohammadi 2004