Last week, the Museum of Fine Arts hosted The Boston Festival of Films from Iran, a three-day event dedicated to the exclusive screenings of Persian movies, both new and old. Since its inception in 1994 as a collaborative initiative between the MFA Boston, the MFA Houston and the National Museum of Asian Art, the festival was forced to take a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. But for the first time since, the event has returned with a selection of four powerful films, each of which stands out for its unique narrative, discussions and sharp criticisms of contemporary Iranian society.
“Bostonians are lucky to have an abundance of venues to see arthouse cinema, but what sets the MFA’s film program apart is our focus on international film,” film curator Katherine Irving wrote in an email to the Daily. Irving was responsible for consulting on curating this year’s lineup in collaboration with the MFA Houston and the National Museum of Asian Art. Continuing the MFA’s past tradition of featuring other international cultures on the big screen, Irivng commented on how “it would be impossible to exhibit the best global cinema without including the works of Iranian filmmakers, who since the 1970s have been creating some of the world’s best films.”
As a result, this year’s movies range across a variety of topics, genres and eras in Iranian culture. For instance, though the festival usually solely focuses on recently released works, “The Runner,” by director Amir Naderi, was released in 1984. The story of an 11-year-old orphan, played by child actor Madjid Niroumand, the film has been hailed as a landmark in Iranian cinema, withThe New York Times labeling it as the “gem of the Iranian New Wave.” Irving explained the process behind the film’s unique selection.
“We want to give audiences a snapshot of contemporary Iranian culture and politics, and usually only include new releases. ‘The Runner’ represents a departure from this philosophy,” Irving wrote. “When I watched it, it struck me as a potent example of the uniquely Iranian tradition of portraying stories about everyday people and events that might at first seem unremarkable but on closer observation, capture something profound and universal.”
Serving as a historical backdrop in Iranian cinema, “The Runner” presents coming-of-age themes that are notably prominent in the festival’s opening night screening, “The Apple Day” (2022). Often compared to other films like “Bicycle Thieves” (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, “The Apple Day” focuses on the story of a boy named Saeed and his father, who sells apples from his truck, and the hardship they face when the family’s truck is stolen. With a lack of female filmmakers in the country due to the patriarchal organization of Iran’s visual media industry, Irving notes that the film stands out for coming “from a Tehran-based, woman-run distribution company, Eli Image, who are doing brave work of exporting subversive and artful Iranian films.” Thus, with its righteous main character, viewers at the MFA were exposed to the film’s encapsulation of the universally simple yet nuanced experiences of childhood.
While these touching stories share their own place as commentaries on the general human experience, with the recent rise of the Women, Life, Freedom movement and the growing fight for human rights being waged in Iran, it would have been impossible for this year’s films to avoid the public discontent regarding the country’s most pressing issues. Consequently, “This is Not Me” (2022) and “Holy Spider” (2022) both stand out for their powerful, true-to-life narratives regarding the oppressive practices of the Islamic government, as they present the country’s political shortcomings from the perspective of marginalized groups.
Though Iran is the only Muslim country in the Persian Gulf that recognizes transgender identities, trans individuals are still faced with various legal obstacles designed to dissuade and prolong the transition process. Thus, “This is Not Me,” (2022) by Saeed Gholipour is a documentary film following the lives of Saman and Shervin, two transgender men, as they navigate the country’s political obstructions in their journey to gain recognition for who they are.
“‘This is Not Me’ provides an important perspective from the trans community of Iran, a group that is often excluded from conversations around gender oppression in the region,” Irving wrote. As the Women, Life, Freedom movement continues, the movie’s message highlighting Iran’s gender-based exclusionary practices remains even more relevant today.
The same can be said for “Holy Spider” (2022) by Ali Abbasi, arguably the most widely recognized film in the festival. The movie tackles Iran’s deeply rooted issues as it tells the true story of Saeed Hanaei (Mehdi Bajestani), a serial killer targeting sex workers in the city of Mashhad, and Arezoo Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), the fictional journalist who covered the investigation. Despite being shot before Mahsa Amini’s murder in September 2022, the movie’s themes regarding the systematic and cultural oppression of women in the Islamic Republic is a testament to the film’s cultural impact. From negotiating with a police force that does not seem interested in protecting the lives of female sex workers to navigating through a patriarchal society that actively seeks to diminish her voice, Rahimi’s story is one that certainly resonates with generations of Persians. Despite facing multiple obstacles during production as a result of Iran’s strict censorship laws on filming movies where women are depicted without headscarves, the completion of “Holy Spider” demonstrates the importance of opposing such policies for the sake of distributing a valuable global message.
While the fight for freedom continues in Iran, initiatives like those at the MFA remain crucial to promoting these global narratives to new audiences.
“Our goal in presenting culturally focused film festivals is always two-fold: to celebrate the community that is being represented and give its members a space to enjoy their nation's latest films, but also to deepen Westerners’ understanding of global cultures through cinema,” Irving wrote. “Film is uniquely effective for this purpose because it’s so immediate — viewers become almost immersed in a culture, learning as if through direct contact.”
For audiences unfamiliar with Iranian cinema, the MFA continues to stand out for its contribution to the cultural landscape of Boston.
“I hope these films will remind Americans that even though Iran might seem abstract and far away, it is home to fellow humans who want to feel safe, to protect their families, to live their lives as they choose,” Irving wrote.
