Iran In The Spotlight: Four Directors Reflect On The Past, Present And Future Of Their Country’s Cinema: “There Is A Misconception”

The Iranian revolution of 1979 saw the US-backed rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi collapse almost overnight, to be replaced with an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The impact of the regime change was felt immediately by the filmmaking community, with the obliteration of filmfarsi, the country’s cheap, commercial and heavily-Westernized industry. Nevertheless, Iranian cinema has endured, making international celebrities of directors such as Abbas Kierostami, Mohsen Makmalbaf, Jafar Panahi – winner of last year’s Palme d’Or – and Asghar Farhadi, who returns to Cannes this year with his second French-language Competition entry Parallel Tales.

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