City Theater of Tehran, Iran
Muzafar Al Din Shah’s travel to Europe might have left the already fragile country of Iran in an even worst situation, but it also marks the start of cinema in the country. Ibrahim Khan known as Akasbashi (photographer) was among the first group of people that purchased camera and started working with them. Being fully familiar with working with a camera, he then moved to the cinemographs that by that time have been a popular technology in Europe. In 1900, Ibrahim Khan made the first movie of Iran perhaps as a test of his new camera. From this time on attention to movie making increased and 15 years later the first group of students were sent to Europe to study cinema and the art of movie making.
In 1900, Ibrahim Khan made the first movie of Iran perhaps as a test of his new camera.
Abi & Rabbi is the first Iranian feature film directed by the Ovanes Ohanian, the Armenian-Iranian director who graduated from Moscow. Khan Baba Mo’tazedi did the camerawork of the movie. Whimsical and Brother’s Revenge soon followed the first movie but failed drastically in Box Office because of negative view to the whole industry. Thus far, the movies were all silent until the Indian producers and Iranian director and actors produced Lur Girl. Under the influence of Indian movie, Iranian producers were forced to an unwanted inactivity. This influence started what is today known as commercial cinema which includes movies that are not artistically valuable but very popular among people. Up to 1965-66, this forms of movie were sole products of Iran’s film industry until thinkers such as Farokh Ghafari, Ibrahim Golestan, Ali Hatami, Masoud Kimiaei and Darius Mehrjoie came to picture and their movies took the whole industry to a new level.
Under the influence of Indian movie, Iranian producers were forced to an unwanted inactivity. This influence started what is today known as commercial cinema which includes movies that are not artistically valuable but very popular among people.
Although many might believe that the revolution of 1979 imposed limitation on Iran’s cinema, a claim that is true to an extent, but the new limitation made the directors to change their insight and focus on a more serious cinema that involved social and political matters. Iran’s movie industry proceeded like this for more than thirty years that lead to the creation of movies such as Separation and The Seller by Asghar Farhadi that has won many international awards.
Iran’s Theatre
Iran is a rich country in the art of performance, many of them might not be referred to as theatre, but they are all forms of gaining people’s attention and putting some concept or ideology across. Kouseh Bar Neshin, Siavash Khani, Mogh Koshi, Ghali Shouyan, Tazieh, Pardeh Khani, and Naghali are the most notable examples of early performance done in Iran. The Satire works of Kouseh Bar Neshin, the Tragedy of Siavash’s death in Siavash Khani, the Epic story of Darius’s victory over his enemies in Mogh Koshi, the mourning of martyrdom of Imam Hossein in Tazieh and the Epic tales of Shahnâme in Naghali and Pardeh Khani make the history of theatre in Iran, and are a proof of Iranians interest in this art. It is a source of great joy that the traditional forms of theatre are still performed in Iran, next to the modern forms of act that are based on texts and dramas.