July 1998 at St. Louis Webster University, a Festival on Iranian Cinema.
From left, F. Hoveyda, Bahman Maghsoodlou Iranian film producer and Behrouz Vossoughi.
Below, acting with Farrokh Ghaffary in an old 1956 movie:
A Cinematic Lampoon with Friends
July 1998 at St. Louis Webster University, a Festival
on Iranian Cinema.
From left, F. Hoveyda, Bahman Maghsoodlou Iranian film producer and Behrouz Vossoughi.
Below, acting with Farrokh Ghaffary in an old 1956 movie:
Above, acting as French priest in a
friend's 1956 movie.
From left to right, Farrokh Ghaffary, Fereydoun Hoveyda and Ado Kyran
Below is what Farrokh Ghaffary, Iranian movie director and (actor) said
on the Iranian Cinema:
Iran Nameh IV:3 (Summer 1996) Special Issue
on Iranian Cinema
Guest Editor: Farrokh Ghaffary
Iranian Cinema, From Past to Present
Farrokh Ghaffary:
There is ample evidence to indicate that the origins of the crop of innovative and
engrossing films produced in the post-revolutionary period in Iran can be directly traced
to the cinematic achievements of Iran's pre-revolutionary film industry. It is true that a
number of films, produced after the establishment of the Islamic republic in Iran, have
been recognized in major international film festivals and acclaimed by European and
American film critics in recent years. But, it is also true that a number of Iranian films
and directors were also praised by nearly the same critics and in the same festivals.
Indeed, some of the most prominent of Iran's contemporary filmmakers, such as Bahram
Beyza'i, Abbas Kia Rostami and Daryush Mehrju'i, were trained--and produced some of their
best works--in the pre-revolutionary era. Clearly, these favorable notices, at times
overly flattering, about recent Iranian films have not been appreciated by some Iranians,
particularly in the exile community. They claim that praising films produced in a country
where every aspect of film production is under the total control of an intrusive regime,
is no less than condoning the rigid and intolerable restrictions that have been imposed on
artistic freedoms in general, and cinematic expressions in particular, in the Islamic
republic of Iran.
One can not obviously deny the existence of pervasive censorship in Iran nor underestimate the frustration of independent directors and filmmakers who must constantly face a host of obstacles aimed at restricting their freedom of action and artistic expression. Nevertheless, conscious as one must be about these trying circumstances, the task of assessing the works of Iranian contemporary filmmakers, on their own merits, need not be neglected.