Nature of Cinema, Nature of Revolution: Two by Kiarostami

Tajrobeh (Experience)
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran 1973, 56 min. Farsi with English subtitles, DCP

Ghazie Shekl-e Avval…Shekl-e Dovvom (First Case, Second Case)
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran 1979, 48 min. Farsi and Armenian with English subtitles, DCP

Tajrobeh, an autobiographical film written by Amir Naderi, tells the story of an orphan from the south living and working in Tehran who falls in love with a shop customer he has never spoken to.

A banned pseudo-documentary and a testimony to his political shrewdness and creative objectives, Ghazie Shekl-e Avval…Shekl-e Dovvom presents complex perspectives on the tumultuous events of the late 70s in Iran, culminating in the revolution. Remarkably, Kiarostami achieved this without leaving his comfort zone – the classroom setting – and by staying faithful to his inquiring style, a subtle, imaginative manipulation of recorded reality. Here, he also introduced the interview format into his body of work, putting his finger on the pulse of Iranian society by collaging conflicting viewpoints together.