It’s good to start a film festival on a high and this sweet, sexy, lyrical and hopeful first feature by Faraz Shariat hit just the right note.
Continue readingNo Hard Feelings (Wir) (2020)
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Three Faces (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
Jafar Panahi is not one of my favourite Iranian directors. His self-conscious self-referential technique of centring his films around his persona as a director has always kept me at a distance from his films, although I understand the relevance given his 20-year travel and directing ban. Three Faces follows this same style but, for the first time, I felt he kept himself to the margins of the story and let the real star, Behnaz Jafari, shine. Continue reading
Dressage (2018)
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Director Pooya Badkoobeh’s first feature is an absorbing coming-of-age story about a complacent teenager who, like a fine dressage horse, has been protected from the realities of life. Continue reading
Pig (2018)
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Image via miff.com.au
There seems to be a thing where Iranian directors make films about Iranian directors. Jafar Panahi likes to do it with his documentary-like musings starring himself, such as Tehran Taxi. Mani Haghighi takes a shot at it with Pig although his tongue is firmly lodged in his cheek. Continue reading
Israfil (2017)
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Image via iran.britishcouncil.org
The second feature from Iranian director Ida Panahandeh, Israfil is a quiet exploration of the repercussions of the cultural oppression dealt with much more histrionically in Leila. Unlike Leila, where the thoughts of the protagonists were spelt out to us, Panahandeh lets us watch and feel and imagine. Continue reading
Leila (1997)
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Image via http://www.ifccenter.com
Cultural oppression is a battering ram that destroys everything in its path. There are those who help wield it and those who throw their hands up in protest but do nothing. So it is with the lives of Leila (Leila Hatami) and Reza (Ali Mosaffa). Married because of family expectation but finding love and companionship, their problems begin when Leila finds she can’t have children. Continue reading
Negar (2017)
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Image via filcin.com
Introduced by the director of the Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA) as a rare example of an Iranian action film, I expected a touch of Hollywood and a breakneck pace but Negar was much more. Better described as a subdued psychological thriller, Negar weaves a fragmented but compelling story as the eponymous heroine struggles to understand her father’s apparent suicide. Continue reading
Tehran Taboo (2017)
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Tehran Taboo uses rotoscope animation to tell the story of four people unable to have choice in their lives due to the religious and social limitations of modern day Iran. Continue reading
24 Frames (2017)
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A cinematic meditation and lyrical farewell from the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami that calmed my mind, reduced my heart rate and brought me to tears. Continue reading
A Man of Integrity (2017)
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Integrity doesn’t get you far in modern day Iran. Mohammed Rasoulof gives us a slow burn commentary on his country through the eyes of one man. #MIFF2017
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