Turtles can fly - 5 & 9 September

Throughout Iran's 2500 year history artists have played a role as social commentators. The most prominent Iranian poets commented on the prevailing politics of their time. During the 20th century, in spite of the often difficult political situation in Iran for filmmakers, the development of Iranian cinema has followed an analogous path. By the late 1980s the films had become distinctive in their social and political concerns, poetics and aesthetics. Landscape-oriented and warmly humanist, often using non-professional actors, with women centre stage, they gave rise to a national cinematic aesthetic now termed the Iranian New Wave. In more recent years they have served to reveal the spirit of Islam for Western audiences, showing the humanity of Muslim subjects.

This series presents some of the most important feature films to have emerged in the last decade, concentrating particularly on stories of strong, resilient Muslim women and children.

Program

• Wednesday 13 June 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 17 June 2pm
  Children of Heaven
  Dir: Majid Majidi  1997
  87 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Amir Naji, Mir Farrokh Hashemia
  Persian with English subtitles
  Majidi’s simple, realist film depicts the relationship between an impoverished brother and sister, Ali and Zahra, who are thrust into a quandary when Ali loses his sisters shoes. A tender, moving tale of compassion and determination, the film explores how the difficulties of daily existence define one Iranian family, using seemingly unimportant details of daily life to build a larger picture of deep family love.

• Wednesday 20 June 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 24 June 2pm
  Colour of Paradise
  Dir: Majid Majidi  1999
  90 mins, 35mm, Colour, Rated PG
  Mohsen Ramezani, Hossein Mahjub
  Persian with English subtitles
  Hero of this fable of a child’s innocence, Mohammad, a young, sight-impaired boy is acutely attuned to the nuances of the natural world around him. He loves his lessons at the school for the blind and is loved by his Grandmother and two sisters. However, Hashem, his ambitious, widower father, fears the possession of a disabled son will reduce his chances of remarriage into a prosperous family.

• Wednesday 27 June 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 1 July 2pm
  Gabbeh
  Dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf  1996
  75 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  An elderly couple go about the routine of cleaning a gabbeh (a intricately-designed carpet), while bickering gently with each other. As they wash it, it comes to life, telling the old woman' s story. She wove the carpet while waiting for her husband-to-be to marry her and carry her away on horseback from her family clan.

• Wednesday 4 July 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 8 July 2pm
  Baran
  Dir: Majid Majidi   2001
  94 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Hossein Abedini, Zahra Bahrami
  Persian with English subtitles
  On a building site in present-day Tehran, an illegal Afghan worker, Najaf - sole breadwinner for his family - falls and breaks his leg.  To keep the family fed, his teenage son, Rahmat, bravely attempts to take on Najaf's tough, gruelling job. When a 17-year old fellow worker, becomes drawn to Rahmat an incredible cross-cultural encounter occurs.

• Wednesday 11 July 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 15 July 2pm
  Time for Drunken Horses
  Dir: Bahman Ghobadi   2000
  80 mins, 35mm, Colour, Rated M15+
  Persian/Kurdish with English subtitles
  After their father dies, a family of five is forced to survive on their own in a Kurdish village on the border of Iran and Iraq.  12-year old Ayoub ekes out a living smuggling goods by mule train, attempting to raise enough money to pay for an operation to save the life of his ailing brother.

• Wednesday 18 July 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 22 July 2pm
  The Circle
  Dir: Jafar Panahi  2000
  90 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Nargess Mamizedah, Maryiam Palvin Almani
  Persian with English subtitles
  With a poetic, circular structure, The Circle links the misfortunes and fates of five young Iranian women, who, struggling to function in the oppressive society of contemporary Iran, have committed unlawful acts under the laws of the Ayatollah.

• Wednesday 25 July 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 29 July 2pm
  Kandahar
  Dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf   2001
  85 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Nelofar Pazira, Hassan Tantai
  Persian with English subtitles
  Nafas was a child when her family fled Afghanistan and resettled in Canada. Her younger sister  was accidentally left behind. When Nafas unexpectedly receives a disturbing letter from her sister she returns to Taliban controlled Afghanistan to search for her.  Filmed on the border of Iran and Afghanistan, Makhmalbaf's road movie retains the immediacy and authenticity of a documentary.

• Wednesday 1 August 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 5 August 2pm
  The Day I Became a Woman
  Dir: Marziyeh Meshkini  2000
  78 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan
  Persian with English subtitles
  A poetic story of women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centres on a young girl who, on her ninth birthday, is told she can no longer play with the boys because she is now a "woman". The second part depicts a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her husband' s wishes. The third shows an old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do as she wants.

• Wednesday 8 August 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 12 August 2pm
  Blackboards
  Dir: Samira Makhmalbaf  2001
  85 mins, 35mm, Colour, Rated PG
  Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari
  Kurdish with English subtitles
  In the harsh, barren environment of mountainous Iran, two young teachers carry blackboards on their backs as they search for students to teach. Their journey is filled with the threat of danger when Reebour meets a group of young boys working as smugglers and Said encounters a village where no one will speak to him. Director, Samira Makhmalbaf (20 years of age when she made this film) deliberately allows harsh environmental conditions to infuse the dramatic elements, offering a simple, stark narrative, hand-held camera, sound distorted by wind, and local villagers as the performers.

• Wednesday 15 August 2pm & 7.15pm
  Wednesday 19 August  2pm
  Secret Ballot
  Dir: Babak Payami  2002
  123 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Nassim Abdi, Cyrus Abidi
  Persian with English subtitles
  In this absurdist fable a soldier, guarding against smugglers on a deserted beach, is shocked to discover a bollot box arriving by parachute.  It turns out there are elections and that a young woman is in charge. The soldier is obliged to obey her orders and escort her with his rifle and army jeep across the desert, where she obstinately intends to collect the votes.
  

• Wednesday 22 August 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 26 August  2pm
  Gilaneh
  Dir: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad & Mohsen Abdolvahab  2005
  84 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Persian with English subtitles
  Covering a decade of Iranian history and made by Iran’s most prominent woman director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, in collaboration with first-time feature filmmaker, Mohsen Abdolvahab, the film begins during the 1988 war with Iraq. The story focuses on Gilaneh, a mother who sacrifices everything for her children, but whose devotion has marked her with bitterness and regret as her dreams are ruined by war.

• Wednesday 29 August 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 2 September 2pm
  Ten
  Dir: Abbas Kiarostami  2002
  90 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Mania Akbari, Amin Maher
  Persian with English subtitles
  Renowned Iranian film-maker, Abbas Kiarostami, uses an innovative approach (two small video cameras strapped to the dashboard of a car) to focus on ten, semi-improvised conversations between a female driver in Tehran and the various passengers in her car. The recurring verbal sparring between the driver and her young son, Amin, shed light on her life as a woman and mother, while interactions with various other passengers (her sister, a prostitute, an old lady, a romantic young woman) capture the full spectrum of women in Iranian society with remarkable emotional honesty.

• Wednesday 5 September 2pm & 7.15
  Sunday 9 September 2pm
  Turtles Can Fly
  Dir: Bahman Ghobadi  2005
  98 mins, 35mm, Colour, Rated M
  Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif
  Kurdish with English subtitles
  On the border of Iran and Turkey, on the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq, a 13-year-old boy called Satellite is in charge of a self-styled army of feral kids. They collect unexploded landmines and other war scrap to sell in the chaotic, local marketplace. Satellite becomes intrigued with Agrin, a teenage refugee with a child, and her brother, Henkov, who has lost both his arms and, it is told, can see into the future.

• Wednesday 12 September 2pm & 7.15pm
  Sunday 16 September 2pm
  Offside
  Dir: Jafar Panahi  2006
  93 mins, 35mm, Colour 
  Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani
  Persian with English subtitles
  After the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, women were not allowed to enter the sports stadiums. This comic drama focuses on a group of Iranian girls who attempt to enter Tehran's Azadi Stadium dressed as boys in order to watch a big football match. Director, Panahi, daringly and surreptitiously filmed much of the action at an actual soccer game in Tehran – the World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain.