Iranian Cinema Uncensored: Contemporary Film-makers since the Islamic Revolution

by Shiva Rahbaran

The New Iranian Cinema is considered by many to be the most fascinating cultural phenomenon produced within the Islamic Republic of Iran. Containing twelve first-hand interviews with the most renowned film-makers living and working in contemporary Iran, this book provides insights into film-making within a society often at odds with its rulers. Reflecting upon the 1979 revolution and its influence on their work, as well as the effect of their films on Iranian audiences, film-makers such as Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi highlight the key issues surrounding the reception of Iranian cinema in the West and also its role in the development of Iran's global image. Through these conversations Shiva Rahbaran reveals that the seeds of the New Iranian Cinema were sown long before the revolution, and that Iranian film-makers gave rise to a cinema which became a global phenomenon despite censorship, sanctions and political isolation.

Genres: Film

336 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2016

Reviews

[Steve Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rahbaran's collection of interviews with Iranian directors (as well as former producer Mohammad Beheshti) repeats the same subjects over and over. Her inspiration was the question of the Islamic revolution's impact on Iranian cinema. Her choices include filmmakers that aren't well-known in the U.S. (Tamineh Milani, Ebrahim Hatamikia, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad), as well as the expected Kiarostami and Panahi. (She tried getting an interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf at a German film festival in 2006, but did not succeed; her description of him does not make him come off well.) The question of Iranian filmmakers' portrayal of poverty and the perception of their films in the West keeps coming up again and again. It's a view onto a debate that Americans or Western Europeans haven't really seen; not surprisingly, Ebrahim Hatamikia, a war movie specialist whose films have never made it onto the international festival circuit, thinks that "festival cinema" is pandering. Despite publication in 2016, most of the interviews were conducted in the 2000s, and one would be interested to see an update with directors who've emerged in the last 15 years.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at Iranian cinema through the eyes of about a dozen Iranian film-makers. The author interviews each one, and asks both about their work, and about how they have interacted with authorities in trying to promote their work. The book takes the form of interviews, with each film-maker's answers to the author's questions listed in turn. It is a really interesting look at the Iranian film-making business, but the author could have provided more background and analysis of how different film-makers approached their craft (and their situation under an authoritarian government) differently.