Episode #4: Translucent Realism in Shahid Saless’s Still Life (with Corey Atad)

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Hello Cinema podcast, where we are joined by Corey Atad, film critic and columnist at Pajiba. More than a year ago, a conversation between Corey and Amir about Sohrab Shahid Saless’s Still Life (Tabiat-e Bi Jaan, 1974) sparked the idea for this podcast series, so it was natural to invite Corey on the show to talk about this unheralded gem. Saless only made two feature-length films in Iran—Still Life and A Simple Event (Yek Ettefagh-e Saadeh, 1973)—before going to Germany, where he made several films for German television. However, the influence of his two first features on Iranian cinema, particularly for Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, is monumental.

Still Life tells the story of an elderly couple living in rural Iran around 1960. Their extremely modest existence is tested when the husband receives a letter notifying him of his immediate retirement. At once a masterwork of serene realism reminiscent of the works of Paul Cézanne and Yasujiro Ozu, and heavily influenced by the poetry of Sohrab Sepehri, Still Life is widely regarded as one of the best Iranian films of all time, but remains curiously little seen. Fortunately for our viewers, it’s actually available on YouTube with English subtitles. Additionally, with the news that a 35mm copy of the film has been touring film festivals around the world for the past year, we thought it was as a good as any to shine a light on Saless’s masterpiece, its connections to Iranian modernist poetry, its unique brand of realism and humor, and the sociopolitical picture it paints of village life in Iran before the Islamic revolution.

Schedule
Opening 0-0:40
Introduction 0:40-3:27
Sohrab Shahid Saless 3:27-11:15
A Simple Event 11:16- 13:50
Still Life: Existentialism and Humour 13:51-24:25
Temporal and Spatial Absurdity 24:25-31:36
Sohrab Sepehri’s Poetry and Translucent Reality 31:36-39:50
An Old Man in a New World 39:51-42:43
Threading a Needle 42:44-46:00
Closing 46:01-52:26

You can download an .mp3 version of this episode here, or subscribe to our show on iTunes.

Works Cited
Hamid Dabashi’s Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema (amazon)
Review by Tina (Spectrum Culture)
Music: “Sonatine” by Maziar Heidari
Films by Sohrab Shahid Saless:
Still Life (Tabiat-e Bi Jaan, 1974) (imdb, youtube– with English subtitles)
A Simple Event (Yek Ettefagh-e Saadeh, 1973) (imdb)

Episode #3, Part 2: The Beginnings of Kiarostami’s Cinema of Questions (with Godfrey Cheshire)

In the first part of our conversation with esteemed critic and former head of the New York Film Critics’ Circle, Godfrey Cheshire, we discussed a number of Abbas Kiarostami’s early films that follow a similar narrative pattern with a young, lone hero at the centre. Most of Kiarostami’s output during the first two decades of his career was made for Kanun, focused on children and shared many stylistic similarities, but not all his films followed this structure. Kiarostami made several documentaries and even tackled political issues like the Islamic revolution and its social and religious ramifications. In the second part of this episode, we review the idiosyncratic movies of his early filmography.

Abbas Kiarostami with the cast and crew of The Report (including Shohreh Aghdashloo, standing centre)

The films discussed in this episode include The Report (Gozaresh, 1977), First Case, Second Case (Ghazieh-e Shekl-e Aval, Ghazieh-e Shekl-e Dovom, 1979), Orderly or Disorderly (Be Tartib Ya Bedun-e Tartib, 1981), Fellow Citizen (Hamshahri, 1983), First Graders (Kelas Avvaliha, 1984) and Homework (Mashgh-e Shab, 1989). Since the second part of the episode is closely tied to the first, we encourage you to listen to that conversation before joining us here.

Schedule
Opening 0:00-0:20
Introduction 0:20-1:33
The Report 1:34-16:16
First Case, Second Case 16:17-22:10
Orderly or Disorderly 22:11-24:51
Expanding the boundaries of documentary filmmaking 24:52-29:00
Kiarostami’s cinema of questions 29:01-34:33
First Graders and Homework as companion pieces 34:34-45:12
Closing 45:13-47:19

Download an .mp3 version of this episode here or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.

Works Cited
The Hello Cinema Podcast, Episode 3, Part 1. (link)
Alberto Elena’s The Cinema of Abbas Kiarostami (amazon)
Music: “Sonatine” by Maziar Heidari
Films by Abbas Kiarostami
The Report (imdb, included in Criterion edition of Certified Copy)
First Case, Second Case (imdb, youtube – no English subtitles)
Orderly or Disorderly (imdb, youtube – no English subtitles)
The Chorus (imdb, youtube – Part 1, Part 2)
Fellow Citizen (imdb)
First Graders (imdb)
Homework (imdb, youtube)

Episode #3, Part 1: The Tenacity of Youth in Abbas Kiarostami’s Early Cinema (with Godfrey Cheshire)

For this two-part episode of the podcast, we had the opportunity to interview American film critic Godfrey Cheshire about Abbas Kiarostami’s early cinema. Godfrey, who previously chaired the New York Film Critics Circle, has written for a range of publications including New York Press, The New York Times and The Village Voice. His work in the early 1990s was monumental in introducing Iranian cinema to Western audiences and popularizing directors like Kiarostami. Like us, Godfrey is a huge advocate of Kiarostami’s early output, the films he made with Kanun (The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults) before his proliferative success in the 1990s. 

Where Is the Friend’s Home?

A significant majority of the films Kiarostami directed between 1970 and 1989 were focused on stories of children and young adults, but these films had different thematic and formal concerns. However, one recurring element dominated Kiarostami’s stories in the early 70s and resurfaced again in his most famous work of the late 80s: a narrative trajectory following a young, male, lone hero thrown into the adult world in pursuit of a passionate goal. In the first part of this episode, we discuss this aspect of Kiarostami’s oeuvre by looking at Bread and Alley (Nan va Kucheh, 1970), Breaktime (Zang-e Tafrih, 1972), The Experience (Tajrobeh, 1973), The Traveler (Mosafer, 1974), A Wedding Suit (Lebasi Bara-ye Aroosi, 1976) and Where Is the Friend’s Home? (Khane-ye Doost Kojast?, 1987). The second part will be posted on June 5th.

Schedule
Opening 0:00–0:20
Introduction 0:20–1:15
Godfrey’s Discovery of Iranian Cinema 1:15–8:25
Godfrey’s Opinion on Foreign Cinema Today 8:25–13:50
Kiarostami’s Beginnings 13:50–21:05
Bread and Alley and Breaktime 21:05–29:45
The Experience, The Traveller and A Wedding Suit 29:45–44:28
Where is the Friend’s Home? 44:28–57:32
Closing 57:32–58:18

Download an .mp3 version of this episode here or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.

Works Cited
Alberto Elena’s The Cinema of Abbas Kiarostami (amazon)
Music: “Sonatine” by Maziar Heidari
Masoud Kimiai’s Gheisar (1969) (youtube– no English subtitles)
Films by Abbas Kiarostami
Bread and Alley (imdb, youtube)
Breaktime (imdb, youtube)
The Experience (imdb)
The Traveler (imdb, youtube)
A Wedding Suit (imdb, youtube – no English subtitles)
Where Is the Friend’s Home? (imdb, DVD at IranianMovies)

Episode #2: Reception of Iranian Cinema, with a Focus on Leila (with Calum Marsh)

Welcome to the second episode of the Hello Cinema Podcast, the monthly show dedicated to Iranian cinema. In this episode we are joined by a special guest, Calum Marsh, a Toronto-based film critic and contributor to Village Voice, Esquire, Cinema Scope and other publications.

Leila Hatami in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1997)

We start our conversation by discussing what constitutes critical and commercial success for an Iranian film from the different perspectives of filmmakers, festivals, Iranian authorities and audiences in Iran and abroad. We discuss the reception of foreign films in North America and the social and artistic context for their production and distribution. Finally, we discuss Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1997). While Mehrjui’s early feature The Cow (Gaav, 1969) is widely regarded as one of the best Iranian films of all time, his later films have rarely transcended national boundaries. We focus on the cultural context of Leila‘s story and consider how that might have affected its international reception. As a bonus, we also discuss the traditional Iranian dish of Koobideh Kebab with our guest!

Schedule
Opening  0:00-0:45
Introduction  0:45-2:28
Defining Success for Iranian Films  2:28-6:38
Reception of Foreign Cinema in North America  6:38-9:17
Expectations of Representation in World Cinema  9:17-21:24
Introducing Four Successful Iranian Films  21:24-24:53
Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila  24:53-46:11
Authenticity vs. Quality in National Cinemas  46:11-50:08
Closing  50:08-50:47

Download an .mp3 version of this episode here or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.

Works Cited
Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (imdb, amazon, youtube stream – no English subtitles)
Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry (imdb, amazon, youtube stream)
Majid Majidi’s Children of Heaven (imdb, amazon instant video)
Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (imdb, amazon instant video)
Marlon Rivera’s The Woman in the Septic Tank (imdb)
Music: “Sonatine” by Maziar Heidari

Correction
In the episode, it is mentioned that Children of Heaven was nominated for an Oscar in 1998. The correct date for the film’s nomination is 1999, nearly two years after its Iranian release date.

Episode #1 – From Puppet Shows to Makhmalbaf

Welcome to the first episode of The Hello Cinema Podcast, the monthly show dedicated to discussing Iranian cinema. This episode is hosted by Tina Hassannia and Amir Soltani. We spend the first half introducing ourselves and outlining our personal experiences in discovering cinema and Iranian film. We discuss the popular Iranian TV puppet show Redhat and Cousin, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup and all other formative experiences in between.

                Redhat and Cousin (Iraj Tahmasb, 1994)

In the second half of the show, we discuss Hello Cinema (Salaam Cinema, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1995), the film that lends its title to our podcast. We situate the film in the context of the director’s career and the success of Iranian cinema on the festival circuit in the 1990s. The film’s interactive structure, the director’s public persona and established position as an ‘Islamist filmmaker’, and the relationship between the Iranian society and cinema at large are some of the topics of conversation.

Schedule
0:00-1:10 Opening
1:10-18:13 Introduction
18:13-18:26 Interlude
18:27-44:52 Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Hello Cinema (1995)
44:53-45:26 Closing

Download an .mp3 version of the podcast here or subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.

Works Cited
Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Hello Cinema (imdb, youtube stream)
Iraj Tahmasb’s Redhat and Cousin (imdb, youtube stream – no English subs)
Marzieh Boroomand’s Hello! Hello! I’m Joojoo! (imdb)
Hamid Dabashi’s The Tragic Endings of Iranian Cinema (link)
Tina Hassannia’s On the Alleged Decline of Iranian Cinema… (link)
Amir Soltani’s Defining Iranian Cinema (link)
Hamid Naficy’s A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol 4: The Globalizing Era, 1984-2010 (amazon)
Hamid Dabashi’s Makhmalbaf at Large: The Making of a Rebel Filmmaker (amazon)
Music: “Sonatine” by Maziar Heidari