Sunday May 17, 2009, at 6:30 PM
Film Society in association with IFVC presents
SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
Special Guests:
Petros Palian, Cinematographer
and Zaven, Journalist and Film Critic
1
DAWN OF THE CAPRICORN
a film by:
Ahmad Faroughi-Qajar
Director of Cinematography:
Petros Palian
Short poetic promenade of a little boy in Isphahan, and his
brief encounter with a little girl, who disappears as quick as she had appeared.
Winner of Cannes Film Festival (1964): Best Film, Best Technique for Young Adult
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2
LIFE IN GOG
a film by:
BAHMAN GHOBADI
Executive Producer:
Bahman Maghsoudlou
Producer:
Behrouz Maghsoudlou
A fourteen-year-old boy, forced to provide for his younger siblings after the death of their parents, is driven to quit school and smuggle goods across the Iran/Iraq border.
Featured in more than thirty international film festivals throughout 1999 & 2000. Winner of fifteen international awards.
The single most awarded Short/Documentary in the history of Iranian cinema!
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3
Tasvir Dar Asre Ghajar
a film by:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
A different look at the art works of Ghajar's period.
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4
The Gate of Auschwitz
a film by:
Marco Grigorian
Narration Written by: Farhang Farahi
The second phase of Grigorian painting, culminates in a massive, signature work on Auschwitz. With international attention riveted on the Holocaust, he declares, “My cry has now become the world’s cry,” and he attempts to depict the horrors of the mass murder of innocents in this short film.
MARCO GRIGORIAN
Marco Grigorian was already a famous artist. He was born in Kropotkin, Russia and in 1930 moved to Tehran with his family. In 1950 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and worked there for about ten years. The artist had held exhibitions in Rome, Paris and London. Th
e first Italian period of his creative life included realistic pieces, while later, the artist began working in the genre of expressionism. This shift to expressionism was quite natural in the post-war Europe among the artists who were mainly depicting the human tragedy, depression and torture. Grigorian made monumental canvases dwelling on the victims of the Armenian Genocide and the immigrants from Van, the town of his ancestors. The used such means of expression as deformation, mixture of colors and ashes, which greatly emphasized the tragic content of the canvases.
After achieving certain success in Italy, the artist returned to Iran. Here he founded "Esthetic" gallery-studio, uniting young artists under his roof, namely E. Ayvazian, R. Voskanian, S. Mekonian, as well as Iranian painters. This group of artists was mainly working in free and independent style.
In 1962 M. Grigorian settled down in New York city, where he established the Archil Gorky Gallery that still functions. The gallery becomes a unique art center. In the last period of his creative life, Girgorian was working in the theme of the earth, which he considered to be a sphere, basis and concept for higher human activities.
In early 1990ies when Armenia was proclaimed an independent state, Grigorian brought a rich collection of unique artifacts to Yerevan and opened "Middle East" exposition at the Charents Museum in Yerevan. A bit later, In Garni, the artist established his second gallery-studio, aiming to present the unknown and unique color plate of the Armenian nature to the various artists of the world.
By Shahen Khachatrian
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5
Solayman Minassian:
A Man with a Movie Camera
Writer/Director:
Parviz Jahed
Camera: Parviz Jahed
Synopsis:
The House Is Black (by Forough Farrokhzad, 1963) was the first Iranian documentary to garner international acclaim and it received several awards from around the world, including the Best Documentary Prize at the 1963 Oberhausen Film Festival. The cameraman of this outstanding documentary film was Solayman Minassian. This short documentary is about him and his career. Minassian was one of the great Iranian cinematographers of the early 60s. He shot some of the most brilliant Iranian documentaries when he joined Golestan Film Unit. He was the main cinematographer of Ebrahim Golestan’s controversial documentaries and fictional films, such as Wave, Stone and Carol, Marlic Hills, The Royal Treasures, and, of course, Golestan’s masterpiece, Brick and Mirror.
Brilliant camera movement, extremely realistic use of lighting, impressive monochrome photography and artistic composition are the main characteristics of Minassian’s stylish cinematography. In this short documentary we find Minassian sitting with his wife Parkoee in a relatively small apartment, as he talks about the past: of Iranian cinema in the ‘60s, the role of Golestan in pioneering the New Wave of Iranian cinema, as well as the making of The House Is Black and other intriguing issues regarding the man and his profession.
Despite his talent and great passion for cinema he has not gotten involved in the film industry since he entered in the UK. Instead he runs a dry-cleaning store in London, which he has done ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978.
The film is a profile of a great, talented artist and outstanding cameraman whose skill and capability have gone to waste in exile.
About the filmmaker:
Parviz Jahed was born in 1960. He received a BA in Dramatic :Literature from the University of Tehran and an MA in Cinema Studies from the University of Art (Tehran). Jahed is currently working on his PhD on the New Wave of Iranian Cinema at the University of Westminster in London. He has been writing articles on cinema since 1988, which have been published in such Iranian film and cultural magazines as Donya-ye Sokhan, Gozaresh Film, Faslname-ye Farabi (Farabi Film Quarterly), Ketabe Maah, Monthly Film, Kalemeh and Kelk.
He has made a number of documentaries and short films, as well as teaching film at Iran’s universities and film institutes. Daybreak (Rooz Bar Miaavad), his most recent short film, and Ta’zieh: Another Narration, his feature documentary about a traditional type of Iranian performance and passion play, have been screened at film festivals, art galleries, universities, and on television in Iran and Canada.
Mr. Jahed has also written book on cinema and theater. His forthcoming book is an in-depth interview with Ibrahim Golestan, the prominent Iranian filmmaker and writer and one of the forerunners of the Iranian New Wave.
Jahed is currently working with the BBC Persian radio/website and Radio Zamaneh in the Netherlands as a freelance journalist.
Filmography:
The Lark (Chakavak), 1988, short documentary
The Grass (Alafzar), 1990, short documentary
A Fault Circle (Dayereye Mayoob), long documentary
Coffee Cup Reading (Fale Ghahveh), 1998, short fiction
Daybreak (Rooz Bar Miaavad), 1999
Ta’zieh: Another Narration, 2000, long documentary
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