Film

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming

administrator — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 23:51:57 +0000

FREE

Sandra Oh and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming in conversation with journalist Marc Glassman on the making of the animated film Window Horses: the Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming.

Filmmaker Maryam Nafaji will provide cultural context and discuss what drew her to collaborate on Window Horses.

When Rosie Ming, a part Asian part Persian young poet from Vancouver, is invited to a poetry festival in Shiraz she finds out stories about the father that she thought abandoned her when she was a small girl. Window Horses uses this story to explore issues of identity and longing while bridging distances between generations and cultures through the magic of poetry.

Window Horses marks Sandra Oh’s first cinematic step after Grey’s Anatomy as one of the film’s producers and the voice of Rosie Ming. Award-winning filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming and Sandra Oh will show film clips and discuss with writer and editor Glassman why the myths and poetry of Iran have inspired them to make Window Horses.

Writer / Director / Producer: Ann Marie Fleming

Producer/ Playing the role of Rosie: Sandra Oh

Window Horses Facebook Page: facebook.com/windowhorses

Window Horses Website: www.windowhorses.com

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Animated Feature Film In Production + Panel Discussion

Region:

Canada

Dates:

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 19:00

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

English

Subtitle:

Program Duration:

1 Hour 45 Minutes

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

Artists:

Ann Marie Fleming

Marc Glassman

Maryam Najafi

Sandra Oh

Abbas Kiarostami: A Report + Q&A

administrator — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:57:39 +0000

FREE

An analysis of the style and vision of Abbas Kiarostami, the world’s most iconic Iranian filmmaker, through the lens of his earliest work, including his first short film (Bread & Alley, 1970) and, particularly, his first feature, The Report. This early example of Kiarostami’s work gives insight into his poetic, humanistic tendencies, combining allegorical storytelling with a documentary, neo-realist sensibility, and often exploring the very nature of film as fiction, that have pervaded his work ever since, including such recent international sensations as A Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy. Exclusive interviews with film critics, historians and scholars (including the late great Andrew Sarris) and those directly involved in the making of The Report provide a look at how the career of this master independent auteur began and was shaped.
Director’s Statement: I have a very deep connection to Iranian cinema, and, as such, Abbas Kiarostami’s international success could not please me more. And yet, I felt that people needed to see the origins from which this incredible talent sprang. By looking at his earliest work, including his groundbreaking early feature The Report, I want people to understand something deeper about both Mr. Kiarostami and Iranian cinema in general.

Festivals: The World Film Festival, Montreal, 2013
- EPOS-The International Art Film Festival, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2014
- So Much to Teach Us: Kiarostami Films Iran, with 8 films By Kiarostami
The Indiana University Cinema, 2014
       -Iranian Film Festival, San Francisco, 2014
        -Middle East Studies Association Film Festival, 2014
Writer/Director/Producer: Bahman Maghsoudlou
Editors: Abbas Ahmadi Motlagh, Ghasem Ebrahimian, Lillie Zuck,
Camera: Mohammad Abdi, Jean Francois Chevalier, Kambiz Kooshan,
               Bahram Molaie, Bahman Maghsoudlou, Mahmoud Oskoui,
              Seifollah Samadian, Bahman Soltani
Still: Hamideh Sharifraad
Poster: Ali Bagheri
With: Kourosh Afsharpanah, Aydin Aghdashlou, Shohreh Aghdashloo,
Godfrey Cheshire, Hagir Daryoush, Pierre-Henry Deleau, Jean-Michel Frodon,
Farrokh Ghaffary, Fereydoun Hoveyda, Richard Pena, Andrew Sarris, Martin
Scorsese, Yousef Shahab, Sheila Whitaker, Alireza Zarindast, and
Abbas Kiarostami
Executive Producers: Behzad Maghsoudlou, Bijan Maghsoudlou, Bahman Maghsoudlou
Color and B/W, 88 Minutes, Persian & English with English Subtitles, International Film & Video Center, Copyright, 2013

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Bahman Maghsoudlou

Region:

USA/Iran

Dates:

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 21:30

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 18:45

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

2 hour

Picture Gallery:

kiarostami1.jpg

Artists:

Bahman Maghsoudlou

Residents of One Way Street

administrator — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:09:33 +0000

FREE

Residents of One Way Street is a documentary about the lives and memories of six residents of one street in Tehran: The current 'Si-ye Tir' or the former 'Qavam-o-Saltaneh' Street, located in District 12 of Tehran. This street is situated between City Park in the south and Jomhoori Avenue in the north. The street was originally named 'Qavam-o-Saltaneh' because the residence of Qavam os-Saltaneh, a prominent politician of the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, was located on it. After the Revolution in 1979, the street was re-named as Si-ye Tir [30th of Tir] to commemorate those who got martyred on that day in 1952 and who were killed during the time Qavam-o-Saltaneh was the Prime Minister. The street is one of the oldest in Tehran and in the past, people of different religions lived on it . Places of worship belonging to different religions and sects ( Armenian Christians and other Christians, Jews, Muslims and Zoroastrians ) can be found on this street. Now all that remains from the residents of the street are memories and photo albums. Producer: Mahdi Bagheri(The Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC)) Director:Mahdi Bagheri Script:Mahdi Bagheri Director of Photography: Mohamad Reza Taymouri Editor: Mahdi Bagheri, Farahnaz Sharifi Cast: Marita Hashemzadeh,levon Haftvan,Shahen Bazil,Ara Davoodiyan,Farhad kheradmand,saeid khak negar moghadam.

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Mahdi Bagheri

Region:

Iran

Dates:

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 10:00

Location:

Studio Theatre, harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

1 hour 30 minutes

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

oneway1.jpg

oneway2.jpg

oneway3.jpg

Artists:

Levon Haftvan

Mahdi Bagheri

One.Two.One + Q&A

administrator — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:14:06 +0000

FREE

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but when society applies inordinate pressure on women in this regard (East and West similarly, although in completely different ways), then identity is equated with something that is destined to perish.
It is on this difference between inner and outer beauty that Mania Akbari’s feature, One.Two.One (2011), focuses. Ava is a young, attractive Iranian woman whose face has been disfigured as the result of an accident. Part of her healing process will be as much about accepting herself anew, as coming to terms with the prejudices and stigmatization her disfigurement provokes in her society. Structured as a series of sketches that have one, two or at most three characters in them, Ava’s healing is depicted as both physical (a visit to a beauty clinic) and psychological (visits to a psychiatrist and a fortune teller).
by Mar Diestro Dopide

Director: Mania Akbari, Scriptwriters: Mania Akbari, Majid Eslami, Director of Photography: Shahryar Asadi, Editor: Mania Akbari, Sound & Mix: Ali Alavian Sound Recorder: Hassan Zahedi, Assistant Director: Manfred Esmaeeli, Investors: Abolghasem Ashrafi Amiri, Mania Akbari, Executive Producer: Hassan Bashgerd, Producer: Abolghasem Ashrafi Amiri, Cast: Neda Amiri, Payam Dehkordi, Hassan Majooni, Ashkan Mehri, Bahareh Rahnama, Ramona Shah, Farnaz Rahnama

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Mania Akbari

Region:

Iran

Dates:

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 13:30

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

1 hour 45 minutes

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

Artists:

Mania Akbari

Exilic Trilogy + Q&A and Panel Discussion

administrator — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 00:03:31 +0000

FREE

Exilic trilogy is made up of three separate dramatic documentary films, shot by Arsalan Baraheni, the Iranian born Canadian filmmaker in exile. The films are visual, poetic and musical, colliding with social, psychological, political and philosophical manifestations. It’s a trilogy based on facts, documents and subjects that are scripted, staged and dramatized in a genre which stays between reality and illusion, documentary and fiction.
Following the screening, a panel discussion will be held featuring Soleyman Vaseghi, Gholamhossein Nami and Reza Baraheni

1-The first film is called “Light and Sound”, starring Soleyman Vaseghi who is known as Soley by all the Iranians. He is a well known Iranian musician and singer. He was forced to leave Iran after the 1979 revolution when music got banned by the regime. He came to Canada and struggled as an immigrant, in poverty, becoming a Taxi driver, while continuing his work as an indie musician, changing his musical style and turning to mystical and traditional music, singing the poems of Rumi and Hafez. The film deals with the mystical light within the mind of the musician and the sound of his music.

2-The second film is called “Frame & Wall”, starring Master Gholamhossein Nami, known as one of the most important Iranian painters and visual artists. The film deals with his mind, his colors, his paintings, his frames and his walls. He is also busy portraying his character in the documentary film that we are watching, gathering a group of Iranian artists in exile in order to help them with exhibiting their gallery in Toronto.

3-The third film is called “Alchemy & Dust”, starring Reza Baraheni, known as one of the greatest Iranian poets and novelists. He has written more than 50 books of poetry, fiction and literary criticism. This poetic docudrama is shot by Baraheni's son, who suffered exile with him and who is now an independent filmmaker in Toronto. The film is about the colliding of a poet and a filmmaker, a father and a son, the poetry and the camera. The film deals with themes such as the life and the death of the author in exile.

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Arsalan Baraheni

Region:

Canada

Dates:

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 16:00

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

2 Hours

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

exilic1.jpg

exilic2.jpg

Artists:

Arsalan Baraheni

Abbas Kiarostami: A Report + Q&A

administrator — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:57:39 +0000

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Bahman Maghsoudlou

Region:

USA/Iran

Dates:

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 21:30

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 18:45

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

2 hour

Picture Gallery:

kiarostami1.jpg

Artists:

Bahman Maghsoudlou

Melbourne and Q&A with Payman Maadi

administrator — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 02:02:25 +0000

FREE

Amir and Sara, a young couple, are going to Melbourne to continue their higher education, however, just a few hours before their flight, they get unintentionally involved in a tragic event!
Director & Scriptwriter: Nima Javidi, Photography: Hooman Behmanesh, Editor: Sepideh Adolvahab, Music: Hamed Sabet, Sound-Recording: Vahid Moghadasi, Sound-Mixing: Iraj Shahzadi, Make-Up Artist: Soodabeh Khosravi, Art Director: Keyvan Moghadam,Visual Effects: Kamran Saharkhiz & Amir Saharkhiz,Producer: Javad Norouzeigi,Cast: Payman Maadi, Negar Javaherian, Mani Haghighi, Shirin Yazdanbakhsh, Elham Korda, Roshanak Gerami, Alireza Ostadi
Color, DCP, Dolby 5.1
Festivals: Fajr (2014), Venice (opening film of Critics Week, 2014), Zurich (competition, 2014), Tokyo (competition, 2014), Stockholm (2014, Awarded Best Script Prize and Honorary Mention for Photography), Bratislava (competition, 2014), Cairo (awarded Golden Pyramid of Best Film, 2014), Gijon (competition, 2014, Best Director, Best Script & Young Jury Awards), Geneva Cineclub (2014), India Film Festival in Goa (2014), Mar Del Plata (competition, 2014, Best Actress Award for Negar Javaherian), Hanoi (2014), Brisbane Asia-Pacific Film Festival (2014), Bengaluru (2014), The 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2014, Best Script Award), Kerala (2014), Chennai (2014), Minar Islamic Countries Film Festival, Sofia (Bulgaria, 2015), Vesoul Asian Film Festival (France, 2015, Jury Prize and Institute of Oriental Languages & Civilizations’ Award), Luxembourg (2015), Dublin (2015), Vilnius (2015), Istanbul (2015), Indie Lisbon (2015), Mooov (Belgium, 2015), UCLA (2015), Transylvania (Romania, 2015), Shanghai (2015),Edinburgh (2015), Festival of Iranian Films in Paris (2015), Silk Screen (USA, 2015), Melbourne (2015), Tirgan (Toronto, 2015), Ars Independent (Poland, 2015)

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Film Screening

Region:

Iran

Dates:

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 21:30

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Program Duration:

1 Hour 45 Minutes

Picture Gallery:

Artists:

Nima Javidi

Payman Maadi

Stop-Over

administrator — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 00:17:42 +0000

FREE

In Athens, Amir, an Iranian immigrant, has a modest flat, which has become a place of transit for migrants who like him have chosen to leave their country. But Greece is only a stopover, all of them hoping to reach other Western countries.
They find themselves stuck at Amir’s, hoping for ID documents, contacts and the smuggler to whom they might entrust their destiny.
A film by Kaveh Bakhtiari, Photography & Sound: Kaveh Bakhtiari, Artistic Collaboration: Marie-Eve Hildbrand, Editing: Kaveh Bakhtiari, Charlotte Tourres, Sou Abadi, Sound Mix and Editing: Etienne Curchod , Original Score Produced by: Luc Rambo, Elisabeth Garbar & Heinz Dill (Louise Productions) Olivier Charvet & Sophie Germain (KALEO FILMS)
A Swiss-French coproduction, coproduced by radio télévision Suisse- SSR-SRG Idée Ouisse with the support of Office Fédéral de la Culture, Fonds Régio Films with Loterie Romande and la Fondation Vaudoise pour le Cinéma, Fonds Culturel Suissimage, pour-cent- Culturel Migros, Fondation ducation 21 / films pour un seul monde, Ville de Genève, Fondation Corymbo
With the participation of Centre national de la cinématographie et de l’image animée and the support of Région ile- de-France

FREE

Number available: 20

Sub Genre:

Directed by Kaveh Bakhtiari

Region:

Switzerland, France

Dates:

Sun, 08/23/2015 - 10:00

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

French, Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

100 Minutes

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

Mohsen-et-Amir-phone-Jahan.jpg

Stop-Over---12.jpg

Stop_Over_2.jpg

Stop-Over---Poster_English.jpg

Artists:

Kaveh Bakhtiari

The Genius of Omar Khayyam + Q&A

administrator — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 02:05:07 +0000

FREE

Filmed in part across Iran during the run up to the 2009 election and presented by Sadeq Saba.

Born almost 1000 years ago in Persia, Omar Khayyam was an astronomer, mathematician and poet. His contribution to algebra and geometry has sealed his reputation as one the greatest mathematicians of all time; and a lunar crater has been named after him for his advances in astronomy.

Omar Khayyam lived during a medieval golden age of science and learning in the East. He was among a group of pioneering scientists who were influenced by ideas from ancient Greece, India and China. The film reveals how Islam and the advancement of science went hand in hand.

In the West, Khayyam is best known for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam most famously translated by a Victorian man of letters called Edward Fitzgerald. Published in 1859, the same year as Darwin's On the Origin of Species, the film shows how and why the Rubaiyat became one of the most famous poems in the English language, attracting a who's who of literary admirers including Thomas Hardy, TS Eliot and Arthur Conan Doyle.

A decade after its success in England, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was published in America where its message of live for the day instantly captured the public imagination. Its popularity spawned all sorts of products including Omar tooth powder, playing cards, and the first illustrated editions of the Rubaiyat. America's favourite poet, Walt Whitman was a fan, and soldiers took miniature copies of the Rubaiyat to the battleground.

Omar Khayyam remains a significant figure in present day Iran, and the film explores why despite his apparent religious scepticism, Khayyam's philosophy continues to resonate with modern Iranians.

A production by BBC Persian TV and Clan Production
Credits...
Written & Presented by: Sadeq Saba
Participant: Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Participant: Aydin Agdashloo
Participant: Dariush Shayegan
Participant: Marcus du Sautoy
Participant: Andrew Motion
Readings: Art Malik
Director of photography (Iran Unit): Bahman Kiarostami
Director: Jasbir Saund
Executive Producer for BBC: Jane Taylor & Adam Barker
Executive Producer: Neil Cameron

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Documentary Presented by Sadeq Saba

Dates:

Sun, 08/23/2015 - 12:45

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

English

Subtitle:

Program Duration:

2 Hours

Artists:

Sadeq Saba

From Tehran to London + Q&A

administrator — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:10:25 +0000

FREE

(This film is immediately followed by the Film “Dancing Mania” in the same event.)

Mania Akbari’s From Tehran to London (2012), has a Russian-doll structure.Mania Akbari starts shooting a film titled "Women Do Not Have Breasts". It is a story about a couple by the name of Ava and Ashkan who live in a beautiful house located in the outskirts of the city with their caretaker couple, Maryam and Rahim. Ava is a poet and a writer, and Ashkan is a man from an upper class and bourgeois background. Unpredictable events happen that affect their relationship. Mania makes the film up to this point, until a few filmmakers are arrested in Iran. Mania leaves Iran and decides to finish her film in London due to the barred atmosphere of film making in Iran. She changes the title of her film to "From Tehran to London".
by Yavar Ghahreman (IMDb)

Director: Mania Akbari, Scriptwriters: Mania Akbari, Director of Photography: Ali Mohammad Ghasemi , Editor: Mastaneh Mohajer , Hamila Moayeri and Saad Ahmad Bires, Sound & Mix: Alireza Alavian, Sound Recorder: Vahied Moghaddasi Assistant Director: Amin Maher , Executive Producer: Amin Maher, Producer: Mania Akbari, Cast: Bijan Daneshmand, Neda Amiri, Elahe Hesari and Mania Akbari

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed by Mania Akbari

Region:

Iran

Dates:

Sun, 08/23/2015 - 15:30

Location:

Studio Theatre , Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Yes

Program Duration:

70 minutes

Multimedia:

Picture Gallery:

Artists:

Mania Akbari

Dancing Mania

administrator — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:10:25 +0000

FREE

(This film is screened immediately after "From Tehran to London" in the same event)

"Dancing Mania" is a short documentary on the latest film by Mania Akbari titled, "From Tehran to London". The film takes a closer look at Akbari’s latest boundary pushing film that displays females dancing for the first time in Iranian cinema after revolution. “Dancing Mania” not only reviews the evolutionary growth of Akbari as an expressive filmmaker in the constrained atmosphere of Iran, but it intelligently employs stills, stop motion imagery, and back stage footage to capture the depth of the themes that are played out in “From Tehran to London”. Through the lens of critical analysis with a touch of Freudian psychoanalysis, the documentary comments on how the themes of dance, death, sexuality, censorship and devastation come to light through the actor’s dialogues and symbols in the film.
Roya Akbari's seemless narration guides the audience through various footage and acts as a visual essay, but one that can cinematically stand on its own. The fact that Roya Akbari herself has lived extensively in Iran and in the West and allows her nuanced analysis to capture the various challenges that "From Tehran to London" comments on. One of these challenges is the reality that Mania Akbari faces by the end of the filming, that of leaving Iran for good. The documentary shows how the themes in a sense extend to Mania’s reality and how the interrelationship between art and death eventually pushed Mania out of Iran as she was facing a kind of creative death. The documentary begins first with Roya Akbari explaining the symbolic significance of the documentary’s title to Mania Akbari and at the end of the documentary we come full circle by Roya reading a letter that Mania, would be "loosing her creative spirit" if she remained in Iran any longer.

Directed by: Roya Akbari 
Producer: Roya Akbari 
Script:Roya Akbari 
Camera:Mohhamd Ali Ghasemi 
Back Stage Camera:Roya Akbari 
Editors:Sohrab Nourbakhsh, Roya Akbari, Maksim Bentesinov

FREE

Number available: 10

Sub Genre:

Directed and Narrated by Roya Akbari

Region:

Iran, Canada

Dates:

Sun, 08/23/2015 - 15:30

Location:

Studio Theatre, Harbourfront Centre

Language:

Persian (English Subtitle)

Subtitle:

Program Duration:

25 minutes

Picture Gallery:

Artists:

Roya Akbari