Another View 2012 / Yek khanevadeh-e mohtaram / Iran, France 2012
After 22 years in Paris, Arash returns home to Iran. Soon enough, however, he realizes that he has become estranged from his native country, and that his own family is part of a dark and violent cycle of revenge, corruption, and greed. This Iranian variation on a film noir is a modern-day Cain and Abel story influenced by debut director Massoud Bakhshi’s own childhood experiences in the shadow of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
Arash is an academic from Iran who has put down roots in France. After 22 years he is returning home to accept a teaching job in Shiraz, the town where his elderly mother lives. The family was torn apart years ago by tragic events, but now his step-brother’s son convinces Arash to make things better with his dying father. Soon enough, however, Arash realizes that he has become estranged from his native country, and that his own family is part of a dark and violent cycle of revenge, corruption, and greed. This Iranian variation on a film noir is a modern-day Cain and Abel story influenced by debut director Massoud Bakhshi’s own childhood experiences in the shadow of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war. The film, presenting a convincing portrait of contemporary Iranian society, world premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section at this year’s Cannes IFF.
90 min / Color, DCP
Director Massoud Bakhshi
/ Screenplay Massoud Bakhshi
/ Dir. of Photography Mahdi Jafari
/ Editor Jacques Comets
/ Producer Mohammad Afarideh, Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin
/ Production Firoozei Films, JBA Production
/ Cast Babak Hamidian, Mehrdad Sedighian, Ahoo Kheradmand
/ Contact Pyramide International
Massoud Bakhshi (b. 1972, Tehran) is a member of the new generation of Iranian filmmakers. He studied film direction in Italy and arts funding in France. In 1990-98 he worked as a film critic, screenwriter, and producer. He has been awarded numerous international prizes for his documentaries and short movies: Identification of a Woman (Shenasaeiye yek zan, 1999), Praying for the Rain (Namaze baran, 2003), Lost Windows (Panjerehay-e-gomshodeh, 2004), Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! (Tehran anar nadarad, 2007), Bagh dad bar ber (2008), and Our Persian Rug (2010). The drama A Respectable Family, his feature debut, came about as a French coproduction.
Pyramide International
32 rue de l’Echiquier, 750 10, Paris
France
Phone: +33 142 960 220
Fax: +33 140 200 551
E-mail: [email protected]
Massoud Bakhshi
Film Director
First-hand brews throughout the year.
Be among the first to learn about upcoming events and other news. We only send the newsletter when we have something to say.
