8:00 a.m. "Himalaya"
- Directed by Eric Valli
Set against some of the most spectacular scenery ever
seen on film, Himalaya tells the story of a generational
struggle for the leadership of a tiny mountain village
between its proud old chief and a headstrong young caravaner.
The balance of power shifts uneasily as they make their
annual salt trek across the Himalayas. Director Eric Valli
is a photographer and an author whose work is regularly
published in National Geographic, Geo, The
New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, and Life.
He has been living in Nepal since 1983 and his first journey
through the Dolpo (northwest region of Nepal) dates back
to this period. He wrote several books about this country
before shooting HIMALAYA in 1997. In 1992, he was
awarded the Gurka Dakshin Baho award from His Majesty
the King of Nepal for his body of work on the country.
10:00 a.m. "Close-up"
- Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Elegant, mystifying, sad, beautful, these are just some
of the words and feelings which come to mind about this
film. The mixing of genres; is it fact, is it fiction
etc. all leave you wondering afterwards, asking yourself
what is reality, what is fiction? That a movie as deceptively
simple as this one has the power to stimulate one's mind
in such a profound way is a great tribute to the filmaker.
It also goes to show that there is a part of our brains,
by-passed by almost all contemporary, Western cinema,
which is open to simple stories about humble humanity
and it's wayard dreams.
12:00 p.m. "The Peddler"
- Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
In this acclaimed film from young writer/director Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, three short tales, each in a different style,
give an unflinching look at the social and economic problems
in contemporary Iran. In the first, a naive young couple
attempt to find someone to adopt their newborn daughter.
The second tale, offbeat and oddly supernatural, concerns
a mentally unstable man who lives with his mother in a
crumbling apartment. Finally, the last hours of a peddler
who is suspected of betraying his friends are examined
in a tale which utilizes the conventions of the American
gangster film.
2:00 p.m. "The Wind
Will Carry Us" - Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
The movies of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami defy the
expectations of anyone raised on Hollywood or even European
films. The Wind Will Carry Us, for example, is
about a filmmaker who comes to a small village where an
old woman is dying, hoping to document a harsh ritual
of mourning practiced by the villagers. Unfortunately
for him, the invalid clings to life, and he spends most
of his time driving up and down a mountainside because
his cell phone only gets good reception at the top. But
while he waits and frets, around him the life of the village
continues, and this vitality--captured in moments that
seem like a diversion from the movie's supposed storyline--is
fundamentally what The Wind Will Carry Us is about.
What seems dull one moment will suddenly become a rich
and subtle expression of human behavior. A strikingly
different cinematic experience.
4:00 p.m. "The Silence"
- Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf:
From one of Iran's most celebrated filmmakers, comes The
Silence, a hypnotic symphony of visual and aural rhythms.
The Silence follows the life of Khorshid, a blind,
10-year old boy who experiences the world through sound.
Living with his mother in a small village in Tajikistan,
Khorshid earns money turning musical instruments. Nadereh,
the beautiful young protégée of the instrument
maker for whom Khorshid works, acts as his eyes, fetching
him every day at the bus stop and leading him through
the streets to his destination. Sometimes on th e way,
a conversation or melody attracts Khorshid's attention
and he loses himself in the compelling harmonies of the
city and everyday life. About to lose his job and his
home, Khorshid creates a world where he can be happy;
where hypnotic sounds and the music of the world shows
him how to experience life.
6:00 p.m. "Marriage
of the Blessed" - Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf:
Written, directed and edited by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, "Marriage
of the Blessed" ("Arusi-ye Khuban")
is an intimate psychological portrait of Haji (Mahmud
Bigham), a shell-shocked veteran of the Iran-Iraq war
who is trying to return to civilian life back in Tehran.
Haji is an idealist, a child of the revolution, who is
still affected by the slogans painted on the walls ("The
crop always belongs to the farmer" says one). But
as the victim of an "explosive wave" during
the war, Haji's sanity is fragile: when a glass platter
shatters the sound nightmarishly turns into an exploding
tank he remembers from the war. Waiting at a doctor's
office Haji is oblivious to everything that is going on
around him, until the incessant sound of a man banging
away on a typewriter turns into the gunfire of a machine
gun. Suddenly we see the typewriter in the foreground
and beyond it advancing Iraqi soldiers and their tanks.
Haji screams for everybody to get down and tries to fight
back against the imaginary attackers. "Marriage
of the Blessed" is a strong critique of Iranian
society and the obvious failures of the revolution to
create the perfect world it promised. As a director Makhmalbaf's
strength is in his editing more so than his writing. It
is what we see, the juxtaposition of haunting images that
stays with us more than the plot or dialogue. Makhmalbaf
is one of the post powerful filmmakers in the world today.
8:00 p.m. "Ashes
of Time" - Directed by Wong Kar Wai
At first glance, the film might seem incoherent and meandering,
but an attentive viewer will see all the pieces coming
together soon enough if he listens carefully (or in this
case, reads the subtitles carefully) and watches everything
that takes place onscreen. The movie stands out from many
"swordplay" films of its era by having a narrative
that is never forced, but flows so smoothly into each
scene and subsequent segment that the movie looks and
feels like its opening motif, that of the smooth flow
of ocean waves. The movie is spotless in execution and
the acting is superb. The plot of "Ashes of Time"
is an intricate web of characters, situations, and seemingly
unrelated plotlines. As movies such as Pulp Fiction
and others would later adopt in years to come, "Ashes
of Time's" various storylines are truly overwhelming
at first, but with proper attention it can be figured
out. The result, once the viewing is over, is a sense
of wonder at just how heartfelt and soulful the film had
been.
Alternate movie in case of difficulties or available
on request as a substitution:
"Taste of Cherry" - Directed
by Abbas Kiarostami
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival,
Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry
is an emotionally complex meditation on life and death.
Middle-aged Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) drives through
the hilly outskirts of Tehran-searching for someone
to rescue or bury him.
