In Between Class (1972)

Recommended

Iran

Short Film

Original Title: زنگ تفریح

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Writer: Massoud Madani

Cinematographer: Zarren Dasset Rastegar

Cast: Seyrouss Hassanpour

Kiarostami’s second film – an enigmatic tale about a young boy and his ball, and the trouble that they get into together – is a curious effort, and one that is often hard to decipher the overall point of, but it’s also a very human one, made with great (almost flashy!) skill, and is strangely, sensually moving. Iain.Stott

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Bread and Alley (1970)

Cautiously Recommended

Iran

Short Film

Original Title: نان و کوچه

Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Iranian master Kiarostami’s first short film is a simple tale of a young boy taking home some freshly purchased bread to his family, who must attempt to navigate an alley that houses a rather unfriendly stray dog, which proves to be an amusing if slight piece, which lacks the moral and allegorical depth of his best work. Iain.Stott

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F for Fake (1974)

Highly Recommended

France/Iran/West Germany

Feature Documentary

Original Title: ?: About Fakes

Director: Orson Welles

Writer: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar

Cinematographer: François Reichenbach

Composer: Michel Legrand

Featuring: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving

Welles’s final film is a documentary of and about fraud and fakery, taking a look at the art forger Elmyr de Hory, notorious biographer Clifford Irving, as well as at Welles himself, which proves to be a fun, playful, and absorbing look at the role of the artist in a capitalist society. Iain.Stott

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Through the Olive Trees (1994)

Essential Viewing

Iran/France

Feature Film
Original Title: زیر درختان زیتون
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematographers: Hossein Djafarian, Farhad Saba
Cast: Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai, Tahereh Ladanian

Kiarostami, further blurring the line between fact and fiction, directs his fictional alter ego, Keshavarz, directing his fictional alter ego, Kheradmand, on the set of And Life Goes on... (1991), in this final part of the Koker Trilogy, in which the making of a small, seemingly insignificant scene is documented in all its humanity-infused and surprisingly romantic detail – a brilliant masterpiece, boasting (perhaps) the greatest final scene in cinema history. Iain.Stott

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And Life Goes On... (1991)

Highly Recommended

Iran
Feature Film
Original Title: Zendegi va digar hich
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematographer: Homayun Payvar
Cast: Farhad Kheradmand, Buba Bayour

A film-maker (Kiarostami, played by Kheradmand) returns with his son to Koker, the site of his 1987 film Where Is My Friend's House?, following a devastating earthquake in the region, in search of the two young brothers who starred in the earlier film, in this oft brilliant work, which is one of Kiarostami’s more formally playful and intellectually stimulating pieces, though far from his most emotionally engaging. Iain.Stott

Followed by Through the Olive Trees (1994).

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Where Is My Friend's House? (1987)

Essential Viewing

Iran

Feature Film
Original Title: خانه دوست کجاست؟
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematographer: Farhad Saba
Composer: Amine Allah Hessine
Cast: Babek Ahmadpour, Ahmad Ahmadpour, Kheda Barech Defai, Rafia Difai, Akbar Mouradi, Kadiret Kaoiyen Poor, Nader Ghoulami

A young boy (the remarkable Babek Ahmedpour) mistakenly takes his school chum’s exercise book home with him, and, knowing that said friend is on the brink of expulsion, goes to the neighbouring village in search of his house, the address of which he doesn’t know, in Kiarostami’s simple, heart-warming, and soul-strokingly beautiful masterpiece. Iain.Stott

Followed by And Life Goes On... (1991).

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Taste of Cherry (1997)

Essential Viewing

Iran

Feature Film
Original Title: طعم گيلاس
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematographer: Homayun Payvar
Cast: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi, Mir Hossein Noori, Ahmad Ansari

A man determined upon suicide drives around, attempting to find someone willing to bury him after the act, in Kiarostami’s minimalist, thought provoking, and beautifully moving portrait of composed desperation. Iain.Stott

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The Chorus (1982)

Highly Recommended

Iran
Short Film
Original Title: Hamsarayan
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Writers: Abbas Kiarostami, M. J. Kahnamui
Cinematographer: A.R. Zarindast
Cast: Yusef Moqaddam, Ali Asgari

The Chorus is a funny and heart-warming, allegorical short film from Kiarostami, which sees an elderly gent frequently remove his hearing-aid in order to shut out some of the less pleasant elements of the world around him, but in so doing he also almost manages to miss out on what truly matters. Iain.Stott

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Two Solutions for One Problem (1975)

Highly Recommended

Iran
Short Film
Original Title: دو راه حل برای يک مسئله
Writer/Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Kiarostami’s delightful, allegorical short film about friendship – presenting two alternative remedies to one problem: the first, an escalating, Laurel-and-Hardyesque series of reciprocal destruction, and the second, a rational, amicable discussion – is as beautiful and funny as it is brief and simple. Iain.Stott

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Iran and the West (2009)

Recommended

UK/USA/France/Belgium/Japan/The Netherlands/Sweden/Norway/Canada/Australia/Finland/Poland/Iran
Television Documentary Mini-Series
Directors: Dai Richards, Delphine Jaudeau, Paul Mitchell
Cinematographers: Emyr Jenkins, Farzin Khosroshahi, David Niblock, Richard Numeroff, Sheila Smith, Vladamir Trivic
Composer: Samuel Sim
Narrator: Tony Gardner

A fascinating, even-handed look at the continuously tortuous relationship between Iran and the West since the Islamic revolution of 1979, boasting a fabulous array of interview subjects from both sides of the divide, including a number of former presidents. Iain.Stott

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Turtles Can Fly (2004)

Highly Recommended

Iraq/Iran/France
Feature Film
Original Title: Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand
Writer/Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cinematography: Shahriar Assadi
Composer: Hossein Alizadeh
Cast: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdol Rahman Karim, Ajil Zibari

Ghobadi’s beautiful and often funny film, taking a child’s-eye view of life in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi border with Turkey just before the American-lead invasion, is a heart-warming yet devastatingly sad tale of human resourcefulness, resilience, compassion, and cruelty. Iain.Stott

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