October 12 – 14, 2024
“Davood is a cinema projectionist and loses his job at the onset of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The revolutionaries burn down the theaters and Davood who loves action movies is forced to set up a home theater in his basement. During this time he also falls in love with Elham, who is the daughter of a hardcore revolutionary. Her father is strongly opposed to cinema and objects to their marriage… The movie is a collection of 120 stills from the history of Iranian cinema”
Cinema Shahr Ghese is a love letter to Iranian art of cinema. It is through the omnipresent eyes of the camera that we witness a blood poem being written in light and shadow. The sophisticated style of editing makes evident the intelligence behind such creativity. The flawless script renders any eloquence speechless. This movie is a constructed form loaded with history and yet manages to remain a story. Beneath the flaming pile of film negatives there rises up the last cries of a collective death in theater. A drama that is so mature that laughs at the nihilism of death right in the face of the camera. A cinematic self-reflective gaze into the mirror of consciousness. A unique work of art that is honest, brave and decorated with an elegant sense of humour. To experience this movie is a delightful contemplation over a troubled history bound by the art of cinema.
