Iranian New Wave refers to a movement in Iranian cinema. It started in 1964 with Hajir Darioush's second film ''Serpent's Skin'', which was based on

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

's ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...

'' featuring Fakhri Khorvash and Jamshid Mashayekhi. Darioush's two important early social documentaries ''But Problems Arose'' in 1965, dealing with the cultural alienation of the Iranian youth, and ''Face 75'', a critical look at the westernization of the rural culture, which was a prizewinner at the 1965

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

, also contributed significantly to the establishment of the New Wave. In 1968, after the release of ''Shohare Ahoo Khanoom'' directed by Davoud Mollapour, '' The Cow'' directed by Dariush Mehrjui followed by Masoud Kimiai's '' Qeysar'' in 1969,

Nasser Taqvai Nasser Taghvai ( fa, ناصر تقوایی, also romanized as Nāser Taghvā'i and Nāser Taqvāyi; born 10 July 1941) is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. Biography Taghvāi was born in Abadan. After early experiences as a story writer ...

's ''Tranquility in the Presence of Others'' (banned in 1969 and re-released in 1972), and immediately followed by Bahram Beyzai's '' Downpour'', the New Wave became well established as a prominent cultural, dynamic and intellectual trend. The Iranian viewer became discriminating, encouraging the new trend to prosper and develop.

History

Early Iranian cinema

Cinema in Iran began to develop in 1900, when Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar was introduced to the

cinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...

upon traveling to France. He ordered his chief photographer, Mirza Ibrahim Khan Akasbashi, to buy one. Visiting the Festival of Flowers in Belgium, Akasbashi turned the cinematograph toward the flower-adorned carriages, making him the first Iranian to ever film anything. Theaters were opened beginning in 1903 by Mirza Ibrahim Sahafbashi. The first film school was opened in 1930 by Russian-Armenian immigrant Ovanes Ohanian, who had studied at The School of Cinematic Art in Moscow. He started his first cinema school 1924 after arriving in Calcutta, India: after facing many difficulties he decided to move to Iran to start the first cinema school in Tehran where he created the first full-length Iranian silent film called '' Haji Agha, the Cinema Actor'' and his second movie '' Abi and Rabi''. After traveling to India in 1927, Abdul-Hussein Sepanta was inspired to make Persian language films, of which he ended up making four. Due to domination of the

Pahlavi regime The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...

over all aspects of culture and the economy, as well as its very harsh censorship of films from 1925 to 1979, the cinema had difficulty developing in a way that reflected its own culture. In this time, Film Farsi began which has been described as “low-quality movies for audiences who were becoming addicted to such fare, losing any taste or demand for anything different.” Film Farsi is characterized by its mimicking of the popular cinemas of Hollywood and India, and its common use of song and dance routines. Forough Farrokhzad made the short documentary film '' The House Is Black'' in 1963, and this film is considered to be a precursor to the new wave cinema. Its unflinching depictions of life in a leper colony, paired with artistically composed shots and her own poetry, made this a truly unique film. Other films such as Farrokh Ghaffari's '' The Night of the Hunchback'' (1964), Ebrahim Golestan's '' Brick and Mirror'' (1965), and Fereydoun Rahnema's ''Siavush in Persepolis'' are all considered to be precursors as well.

First Wave

The first wave of Iranian new wave cinema came about as a reaction to the popular cinema at the time that did not reflect the norms of life for Iranians or the artistic taste of the society. It began in 1969 and then ended with the beginning of the Iranian revolution in 1979. The films produced were original, artistic and political. The first films considered to be part of this movement are Davoud Mollapour's ''Shohare Ahoo Khanoom'' (1968), Masoud Kimiai's '' Qeysar'' and Dariush Mehrjui's '' The Cow'' (1969). Other films considered to be part of this movement are Nasser Taghvai's '' Tranquility in the Presence of Others'' (1969/1972) which was banned and then heavily censored upon its release, Bahram Beyzai's '' Downpour'', and Sohrab Shahid Saless's '' A Simple Event'' (1973) and ''

Still Life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

'' (1974).

Second and Third Wave

The pioneers of the Iranian New Wave were directors like Hajir Darioush, Dariush Mehrjui, Masoud Kimiay,

Ebrahim Golestan Ebrahim Golestan ( fa, , born 19 October 1922) is an Iranian filmmaker and literary figure with a career spanning half a century. He has lived in Sussex, United Kingdom, since 1975. He was closely associated with the eminent Iranian poet Fo ...

Sohrab Shahid Saless Sohrab Shaheed Salles or Sohrab Shahid-Saless ( fa, سهراب شهید ثالث; June 28, 1944 in Tehran, Iran – July 2, 1998 in Chicago, Illinois) was an Iranian film director and screenwriter and one of the most celebrated figures in Iranian ...

, Bahram Beizai, and

Parviz Kimiavi Parviz Kimiavi ( fa, پرويز کيمياوی; born 1939, in Tehran) is an Iranian (Persian) film director, screenwriter, editor and one of the most prominent figures of Persian cinema of the 20th century. Kimiavi studied photography and film at ...

, who made innovative art films with highly political and philosophical tones and poetic language. Subsequent films of this type have become known as the New Iranian cinema to distinguish them from their earlier roots. The most notable figures of the Second Wave (after Islamic Revolution) are Amir Naderi,

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...

, Mohsen Makhmalbaf,

Jafar Panahi Jafar Panâhi ( fa, جعفر پناهی, ; born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an ass ...

, Hossein Shahabi, Majid Majidi & Asghar Farhadi. The factors leading to the rise of the New Wave in Iran were, in part, due to the intellectual and political movements of the time. A

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

climate was developing after the 19 August 1953 coup in the sphere of arts. Alongside this, a socially committed literature took shape in the 1950s and reached a peak in the 1960s, which many consider the golden era of contemporary Persian literature. Iranian New Wave films shared some characteristics with the European art films of the period, in particular Italian Neorealism. However, in her article 'Real Fictions', Rose Issa argues that Iranian films have a distinctively Iranian cinematic language "that champions the poetry in everyday life and the ordinary person by blurring the boundaries between

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

and reality, feature film with documentary." She also argues that this unique approach has inspired European cinema directors to emulate this style, citing Michael Winterbottom's award-winning '' In This World'' (2002) as an homage to contemporary Iranian cinema. Issa claims that "This new, humanistic aesthetic language, determined by the film-makers' individual and national identity, rather than the forces of globalism, has a strong creative dialogue not only on homeground but with audiences around the world." Moreover, Iranian new wave films are rich in poetry and painterly images. There is a line back from modern Iranian cinema to the ancient oral Persian storytellers and

poets A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, via the poems of Omar Khayyam. Features of New Wave Iranian film, in particular the works of legendary

, have been classified by some as

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

. In
Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future
' (2001), Hamid Dabashi describes modern Iranian cinema and the phenomenon of 'Iranian''national cinema as a form of cultural modernity. According to Dabashi, "the visual possibility of seeing the historical person (as opposed to the eternal Qur'anic man) on screen is arguably the single most important event allowing Iranians access to modernity."

Characteristics

* Realistic, documentary style * Poetic & allegorical storytelling * Use of 'child trope' (in response to regulations on adult material within films) * Self-aware, reflexive tone * Focus on rural lower-class * Lack of ' male gaze'

Precursors

* '' The House Is Black'' ( Forough Farrokhzad, 1963) * '' Shabe Quzi'' (The Night of the Hunchback, Farrokh Ghaffari, 1964) * '' Brick and Mirror'' (

, 1965) * '' Siavush in Persepolis'' ( Fereydoun Rahnema, 1967)

First Wave

* '' The Cow'' ( Dariush Mehrjui, 1969) * '' Qeysar'' ( Masoud Kimiai, 1969) * '' Tranquility in the Presence of Others'' ( Nasser Taghvai, 1969/1972) * '' Downpour'' ( Bahram Beizai, 1972) * '' A Simple Event'' (

, 1973) * ''

'' (Sohrab Shahid Saless, 1974)

Second Wave

* '' The Runner'' ( Amir Naderi, 1985) * '' Where Is the Friend's Home?'' (

, 1987) * ''

Close-Up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long s ...

'' (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990) * ''

A Moment of Innocence ''A Moment of Innocence'' ( fa, نون و گلدون, Nūn o Goldūn, italics=yes) is a 1996 film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. It is also known as ''Nun va Goldoon'', ''Bread and Flower'', ''Bread and Flower Pot'', and ''The Bread and the Vase'' ...

'' ( Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996) * ''

Taste of Cherry ''Taste of Cherry'' ( fa, طعم گيلاس..., ''Ta’m-e gīlās...'') is a 1997 Iranian minimalist drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Abbas Kiarostami, and starring Homayoun Ershadi as a middle-aged Tehran man, who drives th ...

'' (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) * '' Children of Heaven'' ( Majid Majidi, 1997) * '' The Color of Paradise'' (Majid Majidi, 1999)