An Introduction to New Iranian Cinema

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No previous knowledge of the subject is required.

Content of Course

The Iranian New Wave (Pre-revolution)

1. Dariush Mehrjui: Between Fetish and Symptom; screening: The Cow (1969, 95 min). Suggested reading: Akrami, Jamsheed. “Sustaining a Wave for Thirty Years: The Cinema of Mehrjui.” 129-135. (Web Resource); Naficy, Hamid. “Neorealism Iranian Style” in Global Neorealism, 226-239.

2. Sohrab Shahid Sales: Realism and Neorealism Iranian Style; screening: Still Life (1974, 89 min). Suggested reading: Hamid Dabashi, “Still Life” in Masters, 193-220. Hamid Naficy, “Neorealism Iranian Style” in Global Neorealism, 226-239.

From Iranian New Wave to New Iranian Cinema (Post-revolution)

3. Abbas Kiarostami: The Fiction of Reality and the Reality of Fiction; screening: Close up (1990, 98 min). Suggested reading: Dabashi, “Kiarostami” in Close Up, 33-75; Mottahedeh, Negar. Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema, 89-139.

4. Bahram Bayza’i: Children and Allegory in New Iranian Cinema; screening: Bashu, the Little Stranger (1988, 120 min). Suggested reading: Dabashi, “Bahram Beizai: Bashu, The Little Stranger,” in Masters, 253-282; Sadr, “Children in Contemporary Iranian Cinema: When we were Children” in The New Iranian Cinema, 227-237.

5. Moshen Makhmalbaf: Self-Reflexivity and Surrealism; screening: Moment of Innocence (1996, 78 min).Suggested reading: Dabashi, “Mohsen Makhmalbaf” in Masters; Dabashi,“Interview with Makhmalbaf,” in Close Up.

6. Majid Majidi: Cross-dressing, the Gaze and Courtly Love; screening: Baran (2001, 94 min). Class handouts.

7. Jafar Panahi: Women and Gender; screening: The Circle (2000, 90 min). Suggested reading: Naficy, “Veiled Voice” (Web Resource); Saeedvafa, “Iran Behind the Screen” (Web Resource)

8. Mohammad Rasoulof: Magic Realism and Politics; screening: The White Meadows (2009, 92 min). Class handouts. 

9. Bahman Ghobadi: Ethnic Marginality and Global Politics; screening: Turtles Can Fly (2004, 98 min). Suggested reading: Farhang Erfani, “Deafening Silence: Bahman Ghobadi’s Turtles Can Fly and Marginal Politics” in Iranian Cinema and Philosophy, 157-192.

10. Asghar Farhadi: Melodrama meets New Iranian Cinema; screening: About Elly (2009, 119 min). Class handouts.

Teaching method(s)

This course will be taught through a combination of short lectures, video clips, film screenings, class discussion and student participation.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a good understanding of Iranian Cinema in relation to other national cinemas including Hollywood;

• Critically analyse films using some of the key concepts in Film Studies and Film Theory;

• Show awareness of the ideological operations within any media text;

• Analyse more critically and creatively any film beyond the context of Iranian Cinema.

Sources

Core Readings

Recommended:

• Dabashi, Hamid, 2001. Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, and Future. London: Verso.

• Dabashi, Hamid, 2007. Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema. Washington D.C.: Mage Press.

• Erfani, Farhang, 2011. Iranian Cinema and Philosophy: Shooting Truth. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Mottahedeh, Negar, 2009. Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema. Durham: Duke University Press,

• Naficy, Hamid, 2012. A Social History of Iranian Cinema: Volume 4. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Naficy, Hamid, 2012. “Neorealism Iranian Style” in Global Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style. Ed. Saverio Giovacchini and Robert Sklar. Mississippi: The University Press of Mississippi. 226-239.

• Issa, Rose and Whitaker, Sheila, 1999. Life and Art: The New Iranian Cinema. London: British Film Institute.

• Saeedvafa, Mehrnaz and Rosenbaum, Jonathan, 2003. Abbas Kiarostami. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

• Tapper, Richard. Ed., 2004. The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation, and Identity. London: I. B. Tauris,

Class Handouts

Class handouts and copies of suggested readings will be provided.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.