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  7. Raghasseye Shahr

Raghasseye Shahr

Dancer of the City
Shapour Gharib, Iran 1970, 122 Min., OV with English subs, DCP
Followed by a talk with Hasan Hosseini (online)

A vivid and exciting tale of the failed search for a place for entertainment and performance in a religious society, Raghasseye Shahr traces the story of a married man who falls for a dancer. Though seemingly the tale of a mid-life crisis, the film ventures off in surprising directions, including musical and crime drama. Different from other popular filmfarsi productions of the time, it rather belongs to Cinemaye Motafavet or Iranian New Wave cinema. Raghasseye Shahr greatly benefits from the performances by its two leading superstars, Nasser Malek Motie and Forouzan, Gharib's imaginative direction, and the realism of the location.

Hasan Hosseini is a film historian, lecturer and author based in Tehran. His pioneering work on Iranian popular cinema (including his encyclopedia of Iranian pre-revolutionary cinema published in 2020) has been very influential and shed light on many unknown corners of filmfarsi.