Tag Archives: Iranian film

“I’ll stay and look you straight in the eyes like all these normal people when I scream for my rights.” — Taraneh Alidoosti

“I’ve inherited this courage from the women of my land, who for years have been living their lives, every day with resistance… I will stay, I will not quit, I will stand with the families of the prisoners and murdered … Continue reading

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December 2024 Viewing Diary

The Last Showgirl (2024; d. Gia Coppola) Pamela Anderson gives my favorite performance by a woman this year. I reviewed the film for Ebert. Dark Waters (2019; d. Todd Haynes) I love movies about rapacious evil corporations, and a dogged … Continue reading

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For Liberties: What Was Good About 2024? (in film)

Over at Liberties: my top 20 films of 2024. Tis the season for end-of-year lists. I tend to switch them up, depending on the outlet, because I don’t get attached to my lists. But those are the stand-outs. (Thanks to … Continue reading

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Screen Slate 2024 Poll

Happy to participate in Screen Slate’s annual poll: Best Movies of 2024: First Viewings & Discoveries and Individual Ballots My pics: Fun to scroll through – so many people polled, including directors like Pedro Almodovar and Whit Stilman!     … Continue reading

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November 2024 Viewing Diary

Stranger Things, Season 2, episodes 5, 6, 7 (2016) Continuing the very slow “binge” watch with my niece Lucy, and having so much fun. She gets such a kick out of showing it to me. She knows every moment and … Continue reading

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October 2024 Viewing Diary

Downfall (2005; d. Oliver Hirschbiegel) I’ve watched a couple of times. Always good to have a reminder of the madness of those final months, where even the most hardened monstrous men were like, “… uhm, yeah, he’s a lunatic, I’m … Continue reading

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“If someone spends his life writing the truth without caring for the consequences, he inevitably becomes a political authority in a totalitarian regime.” — Václav Havel

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” — Václav Havel Václav Havel, whose birthday … Continue reading

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“Nothing can prevent me from making films.” — Jafar Panahi

It’s his birthday today. Jafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case… Jafar Panahi is an Iranian director with an international reputation, and a daunting list of films, many of which were made under terrible conditions (The White … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Hediyeh Tehrani

I first encountered Iranian actress Hediyeh Tehrani’s work when I covered the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 (it was my first real “gig”). was assigned to review Fireworks Wednesday. This was my introduction to Iranian film. Fireworks Wednesday was intriguing … Continue reading

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“Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.” — Abbas Kiarostami

It’s his birthday today. When Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami died at the age of 76, shock waves erupted through the film world. There was a general feeling: What are we supposed to do now? If you’ve seen just one of … Continue reading

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