Masterclass with award winning Iranian director, Seyyed Reza Mir-karimi

Academy Scotland welcomes award winning Iranian filmmaker Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi (As Simple As That) on Friday 30 January. Please download the flyer for more details.

Friday 30 January 5-7pm                                                                                                                                                                                    Screen Academy Scotland Production Centre                                                                                                                                                         Napier University, 2a Merchiston Ave, Edinburgh, EH10 4NU 

This is a free event and open to all but to attend please RSVP to info@screenacademyscotland.ac.uk

Middle Eastern Film Festival at the Filmhouse                                      فستیوال فیلمهای ایرانی و خاورمیانه 
Saturday 31st January to Sunday 15th February 2009                                                                                                          Venue: Filmhouse cinema, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9BZ
http://www.filmhousecinema.com/

This year the Middle Eastern Film Festival has focused on mapping the changing and evolving character of Iranian cinema, reintroducing some of the most significant works of the last two decades, including the works of auteur directors Bahran Beizai (Bashu, the Little Stranger), Abbas Kiarostami (Where is the Friend’s House?) and Amir Naderi (The Runner), whilst also highlighting the works of lesser known, but influential, female directors such as Rakhshan Bani Etemad (Nargess), Tahmineh Milani (Two Women) and Manijeh Hekmat (Three Women). Also included is an example of the highly under-represented war genre, The Scent of Joseph’s Shirt by Ebrahim Hatamikia, who for the first time focused his camera on the aftermath and the influence of war on the home front. Rounding off this section are some fine examples from Iran’s new generation of filmmakers, including recent award-winning films As Simple as That (Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi),  That Lonely Tune of Tehran (Saman Salur) and Have You Another Apple? (Bayram Fazli).

The festival also provides a platform for three remarkable feature length directorial debuts, Seyfi  Teoman’s beautiful and lyrical Turkish drama Summer Book, Lebanese filmmaker Michel Kammoun’s gritty but playful comedy Falafel, and Chadi Zeneddine’s surreal journey through war torn Beirut, Falling from Earth.

As Simple as That /به همین سادگی‌                                                                         Sat 31 Jan at 5.50pm
Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi • Iran 2008 • 1h37m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Hengameh Ghaziani, Mehran Kashani, Nayereh Farahani.
A nuanced portrait of a day in the life of Tahereh, a devoted housewife, a helpful neighbour and an attentive wife and mother. Tahereh feels that she is invisible to everybody, especially to her own family. This is a simple film about the inner emotions of an ordinary Iranian woman, with a subtle script and a brilliantly sensitive central performance from Hengameh Ghaziani.

The screening of this film will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s director, Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi.

Where is the Friend's House? / خانه دوست کجاست؟ 
Mon 2 Feb at 6.30pm                                                                                                                                Abbas Kiarostami • Iran 1987 • 1h27m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Kheda Barech Defai, Iran Outari, Ait Ansari.
Ahmed tries to return a schoolmate’s notebook he’s unwittingly taken home. (Its loss might get its owner expelled.) Obstacles abound, chiefly in the shape of unhelpful, domineering adults, but also because, while Ahmed knows his pal lives in the next village, he has no idea of the address. While the film is often funny, it’s also very moving. The repetitive structure of the boy’s quest, and the poetic evocation of the landscape he moves through, highlight his vulnerability, frustration and, finally, his determination.

Bashu, the Little Stranger / باشو، غریبه کوچک
Wed 4 Feb at 6.15pm
Bahram Beizai • Iran 1989 • 2h • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Susan Taslimi, Parvis Pourhosseini, Adnan Afravian, Farokhlagha Hushmand, Akbar Doodkar.
During the Iran-Iraq War, Bashu, a 10-year-old Iranian boy, loses his house and all his family in an Iraqi air-raid. Scared, he sneaks into a truck that takes him to the northern part of the country, where everything from landscape to language is different. There he meets Naii, who is trying to raise her two young children on a farm while her husband is away. Despite cultural differences, and the fact that they do not speak the same language, Bashu and Naii slowly weave a relationship strong enough that Bashu’s traumatic experience with the war makes way for hope and trust.
   

Nargess / نرگس
Fri 6 Feb at 6.15pm
Rakhshan Bani Etemad • Iran 1992 • 1h40m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Farimah Farjami, Abolfazl Poorarab, Atefeh Razavi.
A man and woman race frantically through the streets, pursued by a police car. The man runs into a busy emergency room to hide and offers his assistance to an old man and his beautiful daughter, Nargess, helping them into a cab and avoiding capture. But he finds has fallen in love at first sight with Nargess, and vows to go straight in order to be a suitable husband. A haunting, indelible and understatedly provocative                                                                 examination of crime and poverty in Iranian society.

The Scent of Joseph’s Shirt / بوی پیراهن یوسف
Sat 7 Feb at 1.00pm
Ebrahim Hatamikia • Iran 1995 • 1h40m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Niki Karimi, Ali Nassitian.
A man sees off a young woman at the airport. She is the former girlfriend of his son, who has been missing since the Iran-Iraq war, and the two of them, having come to the difficult conclusion that he is probably dead, have agreed that she should marry another man. On his way back home, the father gives a lift to another young woman, who has returned to Iran from Paris searching for her brother, who was also a POW in the war. A tender and subtle film dealing with the complexity of mourning those who are missing in action but not positively known to be dead.

Two Women  / دو زن 
Sat 7 Feb at 6.30pm
Tahmineh Milani • Iran 1999 • 1h36m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Niki Karimi, Atila Pesiani, Mohammad Reza Forutan, Marila Zare’i, Reza Khandan.
Fereshteh is a brilliant student at university in Tehran, but her father unfairly blames her for an incident involving a stalker. He forces her to return to her hometown and pressures her to marry a man who embraces the old codes of behaviour – she must stay at home and has to hide her books from him – while old college friend Roya leads a relatively free life in Tehran. Gradually Fereshteh’s husband, her father, and even her stalker start to resemble each other – unfeeling monsters who refuse to treat her as a human being.

Tehran has no more Pomegranates! / !تهران انار ندارد                                                                                  Sun 8 Feb at 1.00pm
Massoud Bakhshi • Iran 2008 • 1h8m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG • Documentary
In this beautiful and sometimes mischievous homage to the weird and wonderful city of Tehran, the curious contradictions of Iranian history are playfully exposed. Director Massoud Bakhshi constructs a century-spanning postmodern portrait of a metropolis turning megalopolis, increasingly an unsustainable urban mess of pollution, inadequate infrastructure and overcrowding. Using an energetic mix of archival footage, unconventional photography and sometimes asynchronous music and sound, Bakhshi considers the aesthetic and cultural values that have shaped old and new Tehran.

PLUS SHORT

Red Burqa
Roxana Pope • Scotland/Iran 2008 • 6 min • BETA SP                                                                                 Persian with English subtitles • Documentary
This short art documentary focuses on the red burqa, a visually striking piece of clothing worn by women in Iran which pre-dates Islam and is seen as an object of fashion. Roxana Pope takes the viewer behind the mask to reveal the lives of the women who still wear them. Her film is also a stunning visual journey across the landscapes of Southern Iran.

This screening will be followed by a discussion of the issues raised, in the Guild Rooms next to Cinema Three.

3 women / سه زن
Sun 8 Feb at 6.30pm
Manijeh Hekmat • Iran 2008 • 1h34m • Beta SP
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Niki Karimi, Pegah Ahangarani, Babak Hamidian, Reza Kianian, Maryam Boubani.
A beautifully paced, visually rich and emotionally insightful story about a family of three women. On a day that should be ordinary, Minoo, a museum rug conservator, sets out with her ageing, senile mother to visit the doctor. Already distracted and fretting over her daughter Pegah, who’s simply dropped out of college and stopped taking calls, Minoo’s day completely deteriorates when she becomes embroiled in a professional battle over an antique rug. In the chaos, she loses both her mother and the rug.

Have you another apple? / بازهم سیب داری؟                                                                  Mon 9 Feb at 6.30pm
Bayram Fazli • Iran 2006 • 1h28m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • 15
Cast: Zabi Afshar, Leila Moosavi, Ahmad Reza Akbari, Maryam Boubani.
A surrealistic and anti-clerical comic allegory Have You Another Apple? opens during a dystopian reign in some unspecified Middle Eastern land. The despot ruler exerts complete subjugation over his populace with the help of black-clad, scythe-bearing warriors who sweep across the country on horseback and motorbikes, establishing a reign of terror. An unlikely hero rises from the populace, pairs up with an intelligent woman who can barely stand him, and the two work together to deliver the country from its oppressors.

Fireworks Wednesday / چهارشنبه سوری
Thu 12 Feb at 6.30pm
Asghar Farhadi • Iran 2006 • 1h42m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Hedye Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hamid Farokhnezhad.
A young woman, Roohi, goes to work as a cleaning lady for an upper middle-class couple and finds herself in the middle of domestic uproar. The wife suspects that her husband is having an affair, and has sunk into depression and paranoia. Roohi, glowing with happiness at her own upcoming nuptials, full of hope and love, finds herself – on this one long day – an unwitting witness to what marriage so often turns out to be. A charming and engaging drama
with wonderful performances from its ensemble cast.

Lonely tune of Tehran / ترانه تنهای تهران                                                                                                   Fri 13 Feb at 6.30pm
Saman Salur • Iran 2008 • 1h15m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Behrouz Jalili, Hamid Habibifar, Mojtaba Bitarafan, Mohammad Fassihi, Maryam Sabaghian.
Quiet loner, Behrouz, a former radio operator who served in the Iran-Iraq war, meets up with his long lost cousin, Hamid, a flamboyant, unemployed telecommunications engineer. They decide to make some money installing satellite dishes in private homes – an illegal, but lucrative activity. A hopeful film about two lost souls whose songs of solitude ring out in the vastness of the city.

It’s winter / زمستان است                                                                                                                     Sat 14 Feb at 6.15pm
Rafi Pitts • Iran 2006 • 1h26m • 35mm
Persian with English subtitles
12A – Contains one use of strong language
Cast: Mitra Hajjar, Ali Nicksaulat, Said Orkani, Hashem Abdi.
After a man recently made jobless takes a train to seek work abroad, his attractive young wife, daughter and mother are left to fend for themselves in their small home on the edge of town. Months pass with no news of the husband; understandably, doubts arise as to whether he’s even still alive, and life gets harder. Meanwhile, a handsome but feckless mechanic who’s new to town notices the woman now rumoured to be                                                                  a widow, and starts hanging around in the hope of catching her attention. A visually beautiful, enigmatic                                                                  and poetic work.

The Runner / دونده                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Sun 15 Feb at 1.00pm
Amir Naderi • Iran 1984 • 1h34m • 35mm • Persian with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Majid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri, Musa Torkizadeh.
An astonishing piece of filmmaking, combining a harsh account of modern poverty with passages of extravagant but unsentimental lyricism. Amiro is an illiterate ten-year-old orphan living in a rusting tanker hulk beached in a Persian Gulf shantytown. Life is a struggle, and garbage-picking and peddling water just about pay for a watermelon diet. Bigger boys try to steal his empty bottles, a man snatches the block of ice he needs to cool the water he sells. Amiro learns to fight back. He’s a runner, and he wants to run with the best of them. Young Majid Niroumand gives an exquisite performance, and the soundtrack is a joy.

Falafel
Sun 15 Feb at 6.15pm
Michel Kammoun • France/Lebanon 2006 • 1h23m • 35mm
Arabic and French with English subtitles • 12A
Cast: Elie Mitri, Issam Bou Khaled, Michel Hourani, Gabrielle Bou Rached.
When Lebanese director Michel Kammoun planned his first feature film, he wanted to veer away from the typical image of his strife-torn homeland we are used to seeing in the news. Instead, he wanted to create a film set in modern Beirut that depicted a young Arab man’s attitude to life. And so he created Falafel, a clever, touching and often funny account of a student’s night out in Beirut, from looking after his dopey friend and chatting up a beautiful girl to exacting revenge on a man after an incident in a car park.

Summer Book / Tatil kitabi
Wed 18 Feb at 6.00pm
Seyfi Teoman • Turkey 2008 • 1h32m • 35mm
Turkish with English subtitles • PG
Cast: Taner Birsel, Tayfun Gunay, Harun Ozuag, Ayten Tokun, Osman Inan.
Director Seyfi Teoman captures both the ephemeral joy of being a child during the summer holidays and also an overwhelming feeling of grief in this, his extremely assured debut. A classmate steals a book 10-year-old Ali is supposed to read during his summer break. His attempts to find another copy, framed by his parents’ quarrels, his elder brother’s rebelliousness and his father’s sudden illness, are reminiscent of Abbas Kiarostami’s early works such as Where is My Friend’s House.

Falling From Earth
Thu 19 Feb at 6.30pm
Chadi Zeneddine • Lebanon/ France 2007 • 1h10m • 35mm • 12A
Cast: Rafi k Ali Ahmad, Carmen Lebbos, Ammar Shalak, Yamen Sukkarieh, Naya Salemeh.
An intriguing tone poem about the strangeness of life in wartime Beirut, composed of four chapters set in 2008, 1990, 1982 and 1975, and employing a mix of techniques and visual textures including faux home movies and surveillance footage. An elderly man who lives in a
bombed-out building collects pictures of happy people from the rubbish surrounding him, and imagines the lives behind the photographs.

Ticket Deals
See any three (or more) films in this season and get 15% off
See any six (or more) films in this season and get 25% off
See any nine (or more) films in this season and get 35% off
These packages are available online, in person and on the phone, on both full price and concession price tickets. Tickets must all be bought at the same time.

Contact and Booking: 0131 228 2688, http://www.filmhousecinema.com

This film festival is part of a Middle Eastern film festival which will be a pre-event to the International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace 2009.
31st January to 15th February – Middle Eastern Film Festival
19th February to 27th February – MESP pre-events
28th February to 15th March – MESP main schedule
For more information, please visit http://www.mesp.org.uk
Contact details: Neill Walker, 0131 331 4469, mesp2009@hotmail.co.uk

For more information/advice, please e-mail: film@ediranfest.co.uk