An Unfinished Revolution

Following The Forgotten Revolution, an overview of Iranian cinema presented at SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA in 2021, this second installment delves deeper still into a world of inaccessible, rarely seen and culturally significant masterpieces of Iranian cinema. Encompassing films from the 1950s to 1970s, this series places particular emphasis on the representation of women and young adults portrayed in a variety of cinematic styles.

Tracing visible and invisible stories from a vibrant and tumultuous period, the programme maps three parallel and occasionally converging narratives: institutional cinema and state backing for films which were often, paradoxically, commissioned to dissident filmmakers; the history of censorship and the consequent birth of militant cinema; Iranian popular cinema and genre films seen and enjoyed by millions of Iranians which were equally affected by censorship, though in more subtle ways. An Unfinished Revolution offers a unique view into the themes of anxiety, responsibility, subversion and uprising in Iranian cinema, themes which, in light of recent events in Iran and the gathering momentum of the Woman/Life/Freedom movement, have found new meaning.

Ehsan Khoshbakht is a film curator, writer and filmmaker. He co-directs Il Cinema Ritrovato, the festival of classics and film restoration in Bologna. An architect by training, he has written extensively on film, architecture, and jazz, as well as on American and Iranian cinema.

Funded by Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa