The Forgotten Revolution

The Revolution of 1978-79 changed both the fate and face of Iran. Like most revolutions, it also suppressed the past and its images – and with it one of the most innovative cinemas of its time. This programme aims to show some of the key films from the more progressive cinematic revolution, which was discontinued by a social one for which the country eventually became known. Films banned, lost or simply forgotten are revived in this overview of Iranian cinema before 1979, which features German premieres of newly restored Iranian New Wave masterpieces. Starting and moving forward from the 1962 Oberhausen prize-winner The House Is Black, directed by poet Forough Farrokhzad, the programme traces the course of the blazing years before the Revolution.

Funded by Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa and is part of Draussenstadt

Ehsan Khoshbakht is the co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual festival of film history and film restoration in Bologna, Italy. An architect by training, he curates films around the world and is also a filmmaker (Filmfarsi, Duke Ellington in Isfahan). He has authored, edited and contributed to more than ten books on film.