Monday, April 23rd - 7:00 pm - Bell Auditorium Friday, April 27th - 4:45 pm - St. Anthony Main Director: Nader T. Homayoun   Through a dazzling array of film clips and interviews this thoroughly encompassing documentary explores the history of one of the most highly regarded national cinemas to emerge in the last two decades.  Through a compelling blend of archival footage, excerpts from representative landmark Iranian films, and interviews with its filmmakers, film critics and film historians, the film traces its country’s cinema history in the face of often official opprobrium.

Government and film industry executives also weigh in. The rift between artistic expression and censorship appears as early as 1933 when Russian-trained director Ovanes Ohanian’s Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor  sets the tone. Such pioneers as Bahram Beyzai, Sohrab Shahid Saless (who spent a week with our U Film Society in the Eighties), and Parviz Kimiavi share the screen with  post-Islamic

revolutionary figures as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Bahman Ghobadi, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and others to show how its leading filmmakers have today become Iran’s new ambassadors to the world.