Kianoosh Ayari
Important films: Ghost of the Scorpion, To be or not to be
He is one of the first-class directors of Iranian cinema, whose realistic and obsessive style can be seen in his beautiful films and series “Doctor Gharib”. Ayari was born in 1330 and started his career by making short films in Ahvaz Azad Cinema. After the revolution, he made the documentary “Taze Nafsha” about the days of the revolution and the groups participating in the demonstrations, which never got a chance to be screened.
“Dev’s Oven” was his first feature film which was made in 1364. A year later, he became a popular movie maker among cinema lovers with the production of “Ghost of the Scorpion”. He made his best films, including “To be or not to be” about a heart transplant operation, and “Abadanis” inspired by Vittorio Desica’s “Bicycle Thief” in the 60s and 70s. In the eighties, he was mostly involved in the series project “Doctor Gharib”, however, the Bam earthquake affected him so much that he took the film “Wake Up Wish” (2008) in front of the camera.
In 2009, Ayari made the film “Father’s House”, which is about a tragic event that happens to a girl in her father’s house. The film was banned for years and Ayari refused to compromise to soften it, and finally, it was released in 2018. Ayari’s last film is the banned film “Couch”, which is in trouble due to the use of wigs by female actors. A film that is a deep study of the spirit of the family and even Iranian society.
Bahman Farmanara
Important movies: The smell of camphor, the scent of jasmine, Shazdeh Ehtjab
Bahman Farmanara, born in 1320 in Tehran, is a director, screenwriter and producer. His importance in Iranian cinema is very high, and of course, it seems that a large part of this importance is due to the films he has produced, however, he has two or three films that are influential in the history of Iranian cinema.
At the age of 17, Farmanara first went to London and the school of dramatic arts, and then because of his great interest in cinema, he traveled to America and studied directing at the University of Southern California, which is one of the best filmmaking universities.
He returned to Iran in 1345 and his first job was film criticism and he also appeared as a critic in TV programs. He made two short films and in 1351 he shot his first feature film “Khane Qamar Khanum” in front of the camera. A film that is a sticky patch in Farmanara’s filmmaking portfolio.
In 1353, he attracted the attention of critics by making the movie “Prince of Ehtjab”, which was a faithful adaptation of Hoshang Golshiri’s masterpiece. He became the head of the Iran Cinema Development Company and in this way supported many films of the new wave of Iranian cinema and produced films by Bahram Bayzaei, Dariush Mehrjooi and Mohammad Reza Aslani.
In 1356, he made his third film “Long Shadows of the Wind”, which was banned both before and after the revolution. Then he immigrated to Canada and returned to Iran in the late 60s. At the end of the 70s, when the space for filmmaking had become more open, he made the film “The smell of camphor, the scent of jasmine”. A story of an old director who has not made a film for years and now has to make a film about death. A film that at least part of it was autobiographical.
In the 80s, he made two other films, “A House on the Water” and “A Little Kiss”, which were somehow related to the subject of death. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, the two films “I want you” and “Hakait Darya” were not at the same level as his previous works.
Asghar Farhadi
Important movies: Chaharshan Suri, About Eli, Nader’s separation from Simin, The Salesman
Farhadi, born in 1351, is a director who needs no introduction. Whether you are a movie fan or not, he is known to all Iranian people by receiving two Oscars, which are considered the first Oscars in the history of Iranian cinema. Farhadi started his career in cinema by writing screenplays and his first feature screenplay was “The Height of Post” which he wrote together with Ebrahim Hatamikia.
A year after that, he made the film “Dancing in the Dust” (2008). Before he came to the cinema, he gained fame on television by making the social series “The Story of a City”, and “Dancing in the Dust”, although it had signs of the birth of a talented director, was still in the sentimentalism of his TV series.
Farhadi’s second film “Shahr Ziba” again focused on the lower middle class and raised the story of revenge, but it was with his third film “Syrian Wednesday” that he found his own path in Iranian cinema. The film from which Farhadi’s puzzle pieces began. A film about the problems of the middle class and the morals in them, which until the end of the film takes away the power of judgment from you. Between “Chershanbe Suri” and “About Eli” he participated in writing the screenplays of “Kanaan” for Mani Haghighi and “Trial on the Street” for Masoud Kimiaei.
“About Eli” was Farhadi’s first film that went to a world-class festival, Berlin, where he won the Silver Bear. The film launched the third new wave of Iranian cinema and after that many filmmakers imitated Farhadi’s style. A movie that showed moral complexities and also had an ending.
Then it was the turn of “A Rare Separation from Simin” which was accepted to the Oscars after Berlin and brought the first Oscar award for Iranian cinema. After that, Farhadi, who had many other international investors, made the movie “The Past” in France, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and its French actress Berenice Bejou won an award. Farhadi made another movie called “Everybody Knows” in Spain, which starred Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and it is one of the weakest movies in his career. He won his second Oscar with the movie “The Salesman” and became one of the few filmmakers in the history of cinema who have two Oscars in their career.
His last film “Heroman” was present at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and has not yet been screened.